7 schools from mid-Missouri to form new conference in '24-25

Harrisburg's Hunter Cole makes a turn in the 400-meter dash in the Class 2 MSHSAA State Track and Field Championships in May.


There will be more shakeups for conference alignment for the 2024-25 school year.

Recently, seven schools announced they will join a new conference -- however, it is one without a name for now.

The schools joining are South Callaway, New Bloomfield, Russellville, Linn , Eugene, Harrisburg and Fayette.

South Callaway, Russellville, Linn, Eugene and New Bloomfield are coming from the Show-Me Conference; though South Callaway is in the Eastern Missouri Conference in football

Fayette and Harrisburg are coming from the Lewis & Clark Conference

Most of the schools are in Class 1 or 2, depending on the sport. MSHSAA does redo classifications each school year.

Harrisburg Superintendent Steve Combs said football scheduling was a big reason for the move, in an interview with CentralMoInfo.com. Five schools will play football, though the conference could expand, Combs said. 

In terms of track and field, the group of teams had two state champions this past season in Class 2: Trinity Riggs from Russellville won the shot put and Emma Fischer from Harrisburg won the javelin. Harrisburg's Hunter Cole was the runner-up in the 400-meter dash.

In other news, Marceline and Brookfield will officially join the Grand River Conference for this upcoming school year. Brookfield comes from the Clarence Cannon Conference, while Marceline was in the Lewis & Clark Conference.

North Shelby will move to the Lewis & Clark Conference in the 2024-25 school year to help fill the void of losing three teams -- Fayette, Harrisburg and Marceline.