The Heart of Iowa Conference officially has its 10th member as Woodward-Granger’s application has been officially accepted as of Monday evening.
Two-thirds of the conference schools needed to accept the application for the applying school to gain admission per conference bylaws, and PCM became the 6th school of the 9 that make up the conference to approve WG’s application. That joins a list of Nevada, Roland-Story, Perry, Saydel and Greene County of schools confirmed to have approved the application.
Woodward-Granger rejoins a league it was a part of from 1988, when they joined from the Raccoon River Conference, until 2009, when they left for the West Central Activities Conference.
In their application letter from their May school board meeting, the Woodward-Granger district cited “Current and projected enrollments, central Iowa proximity, and aligned academic, athletic, and fine arts visions and values are the primary drivers of our interest in joining your conference.”
As of the upcoming 2025-26 school year, Woodward-Granger was the 3rd largest school in the West Central Activities Conference behind Des Moines Christian (341) and Van Meter (235) with a BEDS 9-11 enrollment of 214, which is expected to nearly double in the next 10 years.
Woodward-Granger becomes the 2nd school to solidify their departure from the West Central Activities Conference in the last week, as Des Moines Christian announced last Monday (6/9) they had accepted an invitation to the Little Hawkeye Conference, in which they would begin competing in for the 2026-27 school year, the same year in which the Hawks would begin competing in the Heart of Iowa Conference.
The arrival of WG completes a 10-team Heart of Iowa Conference roster, including Grand View Christian, Greene County, Nevada, PCM, Perry, Roland-Story, Saydel, South Hamilton and West Marshall.