The addition of Perry Meridian to the Mid-State Conference virtually guarantees the start of new sports rivalries in the 70-year-old league.
Costs aren’t significant, but there is a price to pay.
Everything from minor tweaks to the conference logo (eight stars situated left of the torch instead of seven) to updated signage at various playing venues requires member schools to include Perry Meridian in all displays.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Johnson County’s three affiliates — Franklin, Whiteland and original Mid-State member Greenwood — are each paying between $1,000 and $2,500 to complete the transition.
The Mid-State operated with six schools in the early 2000s, and dwindled to only five in 2006 with the departure of Beech Grove. Adding Martinsville and previous member Decatur Central (1942-71) returned it to seven.
Whiteland athletic director Ken Sears, whose school joined the Mid-State in 1968, said the Warriors aren’t digging deep into their resources. Whiteland traditionally doesn’t use conference signage at the football stadium, which leaves the pool and Glenn Ray Gymnasium.
Whiteland spent approximately $1,000 in all, compared to Greenwood’s $1,500 and Franklin’s $2,500.
“Our Mid-State Conference athletic directors, we have an account that we take profit from a volleyball tournament, track meet or something like that,” Sears said. “And Plainfield has a guy who’s pretty good with logos, so they’ve changed the logo for certificates and things like that.
“Some schools are spending more because they want to upgrade some other things, and now’s the time. We don’t have a lot of signs all over our campus, so it’s not like some of the other schools.”
Promoting the conference is not mandatory. Therefore, schools often differ in how much signage promoting the Mid-State Conference is visible in gymnasiums, fieldhouses, pool areas and outdoor facilities.
The Mid-State is Perry Meridian’s third conference affiliation.
Opened the 1973-74 school year, the Falcons competed as an independent for over two decades. They joined the Central Suburban Conference for two years before switching to Conference Indiana (1997-2018).
The switch makes sense geographically, according to Perry Meridian athletic director Doug Schornick. Conference Indiana, which brought in the two Bloomington schools and Columbus North in 1997, added Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South five years ago.
Schornick estimates his school is spending approximately $1,500 for new signage.
“On top of that, we kind of trade out with the other schools, so we’ll get some extra Perry Meridian signs, and I’ll give the old Conference Indiana signs to each individual school so they can utilize it in some way,” he said.
Perry Meridian has about 1,000 more students than Greenwood, the Mid-State’s smallest school in terms of enrollment.
The Woodmen and Falcons have played boys basketball once per season dating back decades. The girls programs make it an annual event, while the school’s football programs have opened the season against one another the past five years (they’ll play during Week 6 this season).
Mike Campbell, the Woodmen football coach since 2006 and also an assistant athletic director, doesn’t see this as a problem in the various girls and boys sports.
Other candidates vying to become the eighth school in the Mid-State Conference — Columbus East and Bloomington North — weren’t nearly as centrally located as Perry Meridian.
“It’s an easy travel for the schools, and there is some familiarity there,” Campbell said. “There’s always a little trepidation when you’re bringing in schools of their size, but because of that familiarity, we just move on.”
All football programs play nonconference opponents the first two weeks, with Mid-State competition going from Weeks 3-9.
“That’s a big one for us because Week 5 was our bye week with a seven-team conference, and that’s sometimes tough,” Sears said. “(But) it really squares up some tournaments like in tennis as far as nobody gets a bye in the first round.
“It makes it a little cleaner that way.”
Franklin is paying approximately $2,500 to make changes in signage. It worked with a company in Plainfield to get new banners made that include Perry Meridian.
Second-year athletic director Bill Doty uses money from the school’s athletic budget the same way if he was purchasing new uniforms or equipment for one of the girls or boys teams.
“Some of our old signage had some old logos of other schools, so we decided to change everything. Just make a new, fresh look,” Doty said. “We changed the signage in the gym, in the pool, the fieldhouse and the main stadium.
“(The cost) just depends on how much you want to do.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Mid-State Conference” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
A look at the eight members of the Mid-State Conference and how long they’ve been part of the league, which was founded in 1942:
School;Joined
Decatur Central;1942 (rejoined in 2006)
Franklin; 1981
Greenwood;1942
Martinsville;2006
Mooresville;1942
Perry Meridian;2018
Plainfield;1942
Whiteland;1968
Previous members: Avon, Beech Grove, Brownsburg, Center Grove, Danville, Lawrence Central, Speedway
[sc:pullout-text-end]
