The Hawkeye 10 Conference is a high school athletic conference in Iowa made up of larger-mid-size schools in Southwest Iowa. Most members participate at the 3A level in all sports, which is the second highest level of competition in Iowa.
List of member schools School Location Affiliation Mascot Colors Year Joined BEDS Enrollment (2026–2027) Football Class 2025–26 Atlantic Atlantic Public Trojans 1930 324 3A Carroll Carroll Public Tigers 2026 349 3A ClarindaClarinda Public Cardinals 1930 261 2A CrestonCreston Public Panthers 1930 328 3A Denison-SchleswigDenison Public Monarchs 1993 568 4A GlenwoodGlenwood Public Rams 1951 426 4A HarlanHarlan Public Cyclones 1971 325 3A Kuemper Catholic Carroll Private Knights 1993 229 2A St. Albert Catholic* Council Bluffs Private Falcons & Saintes 2013 139 A
*Heartland Christian School, located in Council Bluffs, co-ops with St. Albert Catholic for baseball, football, cheer, and softball. Heartland Christian competes in other sports in the Frontier Conference of Nebraska.
Former member schools School Location Affiliation Mascot Colors Year Joined Year Left Conference Left For VilliscaVillisca Public Blue Jays 1930 (founding member) 1962 Tall Corn (founding member) Corning Corning Public Red Raiders 1946 1970 Tall Corn Lewis CentralCouncil Bluffs Public Titans 1970 2026 Missouri River Conference Red OakRed Oak Public Tigers 1930 (founding member) 2026 Western Iowa Conference ShenandoahShenandoah Public Mustangs & Fillies 1930 (founding member) 2026 Western Iowa Conference
In 2013, Corning and Villisca entered a joint operation agreement and are known as the Southwest Valley Timberwolves, competing in the Pride of Iowa Conference.
*Classifications for football are set for two-year cycles with enrollment numbers from grades 9-11 from the school year before the cycle begins. For all other sports, enrollment numbers from grades 10-12 are used to determine classes for the current school year.
Conference History In 1930, Creston approached Little Ten Conference members Atlantic, Clarinda, Red Oak, Shenandoah, and Villisca about breaking away from the conference to create their own league. The conference at the time consisted of those schools plus Bedford, Corning, Glenwood, and Sidney. During a meeting in Villisca on February 15, 1930, the schools decided to make it official. Soon after, The Little Six named was changed to the Hawkeye Six.
The 1930 track meet at Red Oak was the first official event, with Shenandoah claiming the first title in league history. Creston and Red Oak would tie for the football conference championship in the fall of '30.
In 1946 the conference went through their first phase of expansion when Corning was admitted, making the conference the Hawkeye Seven. Glenwood would follow in 1951, making it the Hawkeye Eight.
In 1962, Villisca withdrew from the conference to found the Tall Corn Conference, and Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln applied for membership, but was denied. Harlan would be invited at this time, but turned down an invitation to stay in the Midwest Conference.
In the fall of 1963, Lewis Central applied for membership, but was denied. The same happened in 1966 when St. Albert's Catholic and Maryville, Missouri both applied for membership and were denied.
Moving forward to 1968, Corning announced they would be leaving the conference in 1970 for the Tall Corn Conference as well. Lewis Central was soon admitted in 1970, and Harlan the following year.
The conference was known as the Hawkeye Eight until 1993 when Kuemper Catholic and Denison, recently partnered with Schelswig, joined. Beginning in the fall of 2013, St. Albert's Catholic finally became a member school as well, giving the conference 11 schools.
In 2017, the Missouri River Conference sent letters inviting both Lewis Central and Glenwood to join. Both schools declined.
2025 realignment After St. Albert joined, Hawkeye 10 membership remained stable until 2025, when – as part of a wave of conference realignments across Iowa – multiple announcements were made for current members departing to join other leagues, primarily for competitive reasons. This process started in June, when Lewis Central accepted an invitation to join the Missouri River Activities Conference, or MRAC. (At that same time, three other Hawkeye 10 schools – Denison-Schleswig, Glenwood and Harlan – were also offered membership to the MRAC, but each of those schools declined.) In August, Shenandoahhttps://www.swiowanewssource.com/atlantic/sports/article_c99542a3-c6fd-448a-9e07-756e72d34672.html and Red Oak each announced they had accepted invitations to join the Western Iowa Conference. The new conference affiliations for each of the schools were to become effective for the 2026–2027 school year.
The announced departures of Lewis Central, Red Oak and Shenandoah temporarily left the Hawkeye 10 with eight schools, and membership was on course to stay that way when longtime Western Iowa Conference member Treynor, which had been offered an invitation to join the Hawkeye 10, decided to remain in their current conference. Then in September, the Carroll Community School Board unanimously voted to accept an invitation for Carroll, a member of the Raccoon River Conference, to join the Hawkeye 10 conference effective the 2026–2027 school year. Upon Carroll joining, the Hawkeye 10's new membership will become nine schools.
Success While the conference no longer sponsors football due to Iowa's district system, Harlan Community is one of the most storied football programs in the nation, having won 14 class 3A state titles since Iowa began the football playoff system in 1972. Harlan claimed titles in 1972, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2021, and 2022. Harlan holds the longest regular-season game winning streak (excludes post-season games) in Iowa high school football history, winning 66 straight games from 1985 to 1992. In addition, legendary coach Curt Bladt is the second winningest coach in state history, posting an unheard of 407–60 record in his career. Coach Bladt trails the all-time leader Dick Tighe by just 25 games despite the fact that Tighe coached for 63 years and Bladt has only coached for 40. Bladt has earned the honor of National High School Coach of the Year by the National High School Athletic Association, twice, and is also immortalized in a book titled Let the Chips Fall Where They May. Thanks to state titles held in Men's Basketball, Wrestling, and Baseball in recent years Harlan was also one of the finalist for ESPN's top High School Sport town in recent years.
State Champions Year School Sport Class 1939 Creston Basketball Single Class 1953 Red Oak Track A 1956 GlenwoodFootball A 1956 Clarinda Track A 1962 Clarinda Cross Country A 1963 Clarinda Cross Country A 1963 Atlantic Golf A 1965 Red Oak Cross Country AA 1966 Red Oak Cross Country AA1967CrestonGirls GolfA 1967 Red Oak Cross Country AA 1967 Glenwood Indoor Track A 1972 Harlan Football 3A 1973 Lewis Central Cross Country AA 1973 Red Oak Track A 1974 Shenandoah Cross Country B 1975 Shenandoah Cross Country A 1978 Denison-Schleswig Basketball 2A 1982 Harlan Football 3A 1983 Harlan Football 3A 1983 Atlantic Girls Track 2A 1984 Harlan Football 3A 1985 Atlantic Golf 3A 1987 Denison-Schleswig Tennis 1A 1988 Shenandoah Cross Country 2A 1989 Shenandoah Cross Country 2A 1989 Glenwood Track 3A 1989 Glenwood Wrestling 2A 1990 Atlantic Girls Basketball Single Class 1990 Glenwood Track 3A 1991 Shenandoah Cross Country 2A 1993 Harlan Football 3A 1994 Denison-Schleswig Baseball 3A 1994 Clarinda Wrestling 2A 1995 Harlan Football 3A 1995 Kuemper Catholic Golf 3A 1996 Harlan Baseball 3A 1997 Creston Basketball 3A 1997 Harlan Football 3A 1998 Kuemper Catholic Girls Basketball 3A 1998 Harlan Football 3A 1998 Atlantic Girls Track 2A 1999 Clarinda Girls Golf 2A 1999 Atlantic Girls Track 2A 2000 Lewis Central Wrestling 3A 2000 Lewis Central Wrestling Dual Team 3A 2000 Atlantic Girls Track 2A 2001 Lewis Central Wrestling 3A 2001 Lewis Central Wrestling Dual Team 3A 2001 Atlantic Girls Track 2A 2002 Atlantic Football 3A 2003 Harlan Football 3A 2003 Red Oak Tennis 1A 2003 Harlan Track 3A 2003 Atlantic Girls Track 2A 2004 Harlan Basketball 3A 2004 Harlan Football 3A 2004 Atlantic Girls Track 3A 2004 Lewis Central Wrestling 3A 2005 Kuemper Catholic Girls Golf 3A 2005 Harlan Football 3A 2006 Harlan Basketball 3A 2006 Kuemper Catholic Girls Golf 3A 2007 Red Oak Girls Bowling 1A 2007 Creston Wrestling 2A 2007 Creston Wrestling Dual Team 2A 2009 Harlan Football 3A 2009 Kuemper Catholic Golf 2A 2010 Glenwood Baseball 3A 2010 Kuemper Catholic Golf 2A 2010 Kuemper Catholic Girls Golf 2A 2011 Kuemper Catholic Golf 2A 2011 Glenwood Track 3A 2013 Creston Golf 3A 2013 Kuemper Catholic Girls Golf 3A 2013 Harlan Volleyball 4A 2013 Kuemper Catholic Football 2A 2014 Harlan Girls Basketball 4A 2014 Atlantic Girls Golf 3A 2014 Harlan Volleyball 4A 2015 Harlan Girls Basketball 4A2016CrestonWrestling2A2018Kuemper Catholic Golf 2A2018GlenwoodBasketball3A2018St. Albert CatholicTrack1A2018Kuemper CatholicVolleyball3A2019GlenwoodGirls Track3A2019Lewis CentralSoccer2A2021St. Albert CatholicBaseball1A2021HarlanFootball3A2021Lewis CentralFootball4A2022HarlanFootball3A2022Denison-SchleswigBowling2A2023Lewis CentralFootball4A2024CrestonWrestling Dual Team2A2025St. Albert CatholicGirls Basketball1A2025Kuemper CatholicFootball2A
State Team Championships Since Joining Hawkeye 10 School Titles Harlan 22 Kuemper Catholic 13 Atlantic 12 Lewis Central 9 Creston 8 Glenwood 8 Red Oak 7 Clarinda 6 Shenandoah 5 Denison-Schleswig 4St. Albert Catholic3
Wrestling
There is a strong history of wrestling in the conference with four separate schools having won state team championships since Glenwood won the conference's first in 1989. Lewis Central and Creston lead the way with 5 and 4 titles, respectively.
References
External links Official site Conference History