Those familiar with the creation of a new high school athletic league nearly a quarter of a century ago occasionally referred to it as a super conference.
If anything, the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference has exceeded expectations. Winners of 180 state team championships in 23 years, including four in the past 16 days, the MIC is the undisputed yardstick other conferences aspire to copy.
Six of the league’s schools are in Marion County, with Center Grove and Carmel serving as southern and northern bookends, respectively. Charter members Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South departed after the 2012-13 school year and were replaced by Pike and Lawrence Central in the fall of 2013.
Jon Zwitt, whose first year as Center Grove’s athletic director (1996-97) was the same as the first for the conference, has witnessed the MIC’s gradual evolvement.
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"It was definitely a challenge," Zwitt said. "When they took a vote of our coaches at the time, 19 of the 20 were for it, so it’s not like they were forced in. Like anything else, you just try to get better every year.
"We’re a good conference. A very competitive conference. But sometimes we have to keep it in perspective. We are a high school conference and don’t have to put ourselves on a global scale."
Global or not, the league has become the center of Indiana’s high school sports universe.
The MIC has won the state football titles in the largest class 17 times, with two conference teams meeting each other in the state final seven times. Prior to joining, Lawrence Central won the 5A championship in 2012; Pike lost to Carmel in the 2007 title matchup.
The departure of the Terre Haute schools drastically changed the league geographically and competitively. Those two schools combined for a .249 winning percentage (43-173) against conference foes in their 16 football seasons. Those two schools were more competitive in sports such as tennis.
“When the MIC was formed, both Terre Haute schools were in it. Since they’ve left it’s changed the complexion of the conference,” Center Grove girls tennis coach Debby Burton said. “But the (MIC) tournament is still a really, really tough tournament. We gain a lot of mental tenacity because you’re always going to have tough matches.”
All four of Center Grove’s trips to a state football final (1999, 2008, 2015, 2016) have come as a member of the MIC. The early part of the Trojans’ schedule is overwhelmingly difficult (Warren Central, Carmel and Ben Davis in the first four weeks), but the hope is always that that experience benefits the team moving forward.
"The number one thing is that week in and week out, the competition is unbelievable. In football, there is great speed, great size and it’s just so physical," Trojans coach Eric Moore said. "Every team has athletes that can beat you with one play. A big run or a big pass.
"I don’t know if being in the MIC makes me a better coach, but it makes me work a lot harder. There just never seems to be a down year."
The MIC has dominated in boys track and field, with six schools teaming up for a total of 14 championships, the most recent being North Central’s one-point decision over Pike last month. Girls track is also responsible for 14 state titles.
Paul Loggan has been employed at North Central since 1988, the past five years as athletic director after a 20-year run as assistant athletic director. He said the formation of the MIC was as much about necessity as curiosity.
"Warren Central, Ben Davis and North Central were not in a conference, so we were having a hard time finding football and basketball games to schedule," Loggan said.
Moreover, Carmel, a longtime member of the Olympic Conference, was thoroughly dominating on the gridiron, going 15-0 and outscoring opponents 640-152 from 1994-96.
And while there are numerous examples of the MIC’s overall balance of power the past two decades, consider that Center Grove and Ben Davis, semistate opponents in boys basketball this winter, got there after tying for sixth in the league standings.
More recently, MIC boys track teams placed 1-2-3 at the state meet and girls track 1-2 a day later. And yet coaches, administrators and athletes continue to strive to be better in the years ahead.
"We look at the league as a whole and say, ‘How can we get better for next year?’" Loggan said. "I don’t think you ever get a chance to breathe, but it keeps us on top of our game."
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– Center Grove sports teams have been state champion or runner-up 30 times since joining the MIC. Prior to that (1942-96), the number was six.
– Individually, Trojan athletes have won 43 state titles in the MIC compared to six prior to that. The runners-up ledger is every bit as lopsided at 32 to 3.
– A total of 402 Center Grove athletes have been All-State as part of the MIC; a total of 57 athletes earned that distinction from 1942-96.
– A total of 81 Center Grove teams have won MIC titles, the leading programs being softball (16), volleyball (13) and baseball (12). Gymnastics, which ceased to exist after the 2009-10 school year, is next with eight.
– There have been three school years in which Center Grove won six MIC titles: 2000-01, 2006-07 and 2015-16.
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