Northern Shores Conference

Northern Shores Conference
Conference	MHSAA
Founded	2024
No. of teams	8
Region	Northern Michigan
Locations

50km
31miles

Kingsley

Kalkaska

Harbor Springs

Grayling

Elk Rapids

Cheboygan

Charlevoix

Boyne City

Location of NSC Members:

The Northern Shores Conference (NSC) is an interscholastic athletic conference affiliated with the Michigan High School Athletic Association. It began play during the 2024–2025 school year. It is located in Northern Michigan and contains eight teams that encompasses seven counties: Antrim County, Charlevoix County, Cheboygan County, Crawford County, Emmet County, Grand Traverse County, and Kalkaska County.

History

The Northern Shores Conference was announced in April 2023, comprising six teams from the Lake Michigan Conference and one each from the Northwest and Straits Area Conference. The conference formed following the dissolution of the old Lake Michigan Conference, the schools in the conference had concerns with Traverse City St. Francis, and their domination in most of the sports offered, they had almost 50 more conference champions than the next closest school. East Jordan was the first school announced to leave; they were joining the smaller Ski-Valley Conference for all sports. Kingsley, who had previously been denied entry into the Lake Michigan Conference in 2017, and Cheboygan were invited by the remaining six LMC teams, sans St. Francis, to form the new conference.

Administrators at the schools feel the new conference will have better competitive balance, as well as maintaining some of the rivalries that have formed over the years. The new conference however does not affect its members schools association with the Northern Michigan Football League, the new conference will not sponsor football, all member schools except Kalkaska are current members of the NMFL.^[1]^[2]^[3]

In October 2025, It was announced the Northern Shores Conference would start sponsoring football starting in the 2026 Season, with the exception of Harbor Springs, who will stay in the Northern Michigan Football League. The seven other schools will play a 7 game schedule with nonconference games to open and close the season and then teams playing out of league one at a time in weeks two through eight. ^[4]

Members

Team & Mascot	School	Location	Joined	Enrollment	Class	Prior Conference	Boys Champ	Girls Champ	Total Champ
Boyne City Ramblers	Boyne City High School	Boyne City, Michigan	2024	412	B	Lake Michigan Conference
Charlevoix Rayders	Charlevoix High School	Charlevoix, Michigan	2024	272	C	Lake Michigan Conference	4		4
Cheboygan Chiefs	Cheboygan High School	Cheboygan, Michigan	2024	462	B	Straits Area Conference
Elk Rapids Elks	Elk Rapids High School	Elk Rapids, Michigan	2024	351	B	Lake Michigan Conference	5	2	7
Grayling Vikings	Grayling High School	Grayling, Michigan	2024	458	B	Lake Michigan Conference	1		1
Harbor Springs Rams	Harbor Springs High School	Harbor Springs, Michigan	2024	236	C	Lake Michigan Conference	1	7	8
Kalkaska Blazers	Kalkaska High School	Kalkaska, Michigan	2024	441	B	Lake Michigan Conference
Kingsley Stags	Kingsley High School	Kingsley, Michigan	2024	405	B	Northwest Conference		3	3

Membership timeline

Sports

Boy's sponsored sports by school

School	Baseball	Basketball	Bowling	Cross Country	Football	Golf	Ice hockey	Lacrosse	Skiing- Alpine	Soccer	Tennis	Track & field	Wrestling	Total
Boyne City Ramblers	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	12
Charlevoix Rayders	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	10
Cheboygan Chiefs	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	10
Elk Rapids Elks	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	11
Grayling Vikings	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	10
Harbor Springs Rams	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	11
Kalkaska Blazers	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y	9
Kingsley Stags	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y	10

Notes:

° Boyne City - Co-ops with Charlevoix in Skiing; Co-ops with Petoskey, Petoskey St. Michael and Harbor Springs in Hockey and Lacrosse.

° Charlevoix - Co-ops with Boyne City in Skiing; Co-ops with Elk Rapids, Kalkaska, Kingsley, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona, Suttons Bay and Traverse City St. Francis in Hockey.

° Cheboygan - Co-ops with Indian River-Inland Lakes, Onaway, Pellston and St. Ignace in Ice Hockey

° Elk Rapids - Co-ops with Charlevoix, Kalkaska, Kingsley, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona, Suttons Bay and Traverse City St. Francis in Hockey; Co-ops with Central Lake and Traverse City St. Francis in Skiing.

° Harbor Springs - Co-ops with Petoskey, Petoskey St. Michael and Boyne City in Hockey and Lacrosse; Co-ops with Harbor Light Christian and Petoskey St. Michael in Football.

° Kalkaska - Co-ops with Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Kingsley, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona, Suttons Bay and Traverse City St. Francis in Hockey.

° Kingsley - Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Kalkaska, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona, Suttons Bay and Traverse City St. Francis in Hockey.

Girl's sponsored sports by school

School	Basketball	Bowling	Cross Country	Golf	Skiing- Alpine	Soccer	Softball	Tennis	Track & field	Volleyball	Competitive Cheer	Total
Boyne City Ramblers	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	10
Charlevoix Rayders	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	9
Cheboygan Chiefs	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	8
Elk Rapids Elks	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Grayling Vikings	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	10
Harbor Springs Rams	Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	N	9
Kalkaska Blazers	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	7
Kingsley Stags	Y	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	7

Notes:

° Elk Rapids - Co-ops with Central Lake and Traverse City St. Francis in Skiing.

° Harbor Springs - Co-ops with Petoskey St. Michael in Tennis,

Boys Soccer

Conference Champions

Year	Champion	Record
2024	Elk Rapids & Grayling	11-1-0
2025	Elk Rapids	14-0

Team	Conference Record	Conference championship	District championships	Regional championships
Elk Rapids	25-1-0	2	2	1
Grayling	21-5-0	1	0	0
Harbor Springs	20-6-0	0	2	0
Charlevoix	12-14-0	0	0	0
Boyne City	9-16-1	0	0	0
Kingsley	8-17-1	0	0	0
Kalkaska	1-12-1	0	0	0
Cheboygan	0-25-1	0	0	0

State Championship Appearances

Season	NSC		Non-NSC		Site	Division	Ref
2024	Elk Rapids (18-7-1)	2	Pontiac Notre Dame Prep (23-2)	3	Grand Ledge High School • Grand Ledge, MI	3	^[5]

Boys Cross Country

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2024	Charlevoix
2025	Charlevoix

Team	Conference championships	Final appearances	Best finish
Charlevoix	2	1	14th
Harbor Springs	0	1	4th
Kingsley	0	0
Cheboygan	0	0
Kalkaska	0	0
Elk Rapids	0	0
Boyne City	0	0
Grayling	0	0

Individual Champions

Year	Champion	School	Time
2024	Hunter Eaton	Charlevoix	16:41.33
2025	Hunter Eaton	Charlevoix	15:59.14

Final Appearances

Year	School	Place	Division
2024	Charlevoix	14th	3
2024	Harbor Springs	4th	4

Girls Cross Country

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2024	Harbor Springs
2025	Harbor Springs

Team	Conference championships	Final appearances	Best finish
Harbor Springs	2	1	4th
Elk Rapids	0	0
Charlevoix	0	0
Kingsley	0	0
Cheboygan	0	0
Kalkaska	0	0
Boyne City	0	0
Grayling	0	0

Individual Champions

Year	Champion	School	Time
2024	Stefi Reskevics	Harbor Springs	19:53.54
2025	Brynne Schulte	Elk Rapids	19:16.31

Final Appearances

Year	School	Place	Division
2024	Harbor Springs	4th	4

Girls Golf

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2024	Harbor Springs
2025	Elk Rapids

Team	Conference championships	Final appearances	Best finish
Harbor Springs	1	2	13th
Elk Rapids	1	1
Charlevoix	0	1	10th
Kingsley	0	0
Cheboygan	0	0
Kalkaska	0	0
Boyne City	0	0
Grayling	0	0

Individual Champions

Year	Champion	School
2024	Jessica Campbell	Grayling
2025	Sophie Lagattuta	Grayling

State Finals Appearances

Year	School	Place	Division
2024	Charlevoix	10th	4
2024	Harbor Springs	13th	4

Girls Volleyball

Conference Champions

Year	Champion	Record
2024	Kingsley	7-0
2025	Kingsley	7-0

Team	Conference Record	Conference championship	District championships
Kingsley	14-0	2	1
Elk Rapids	11-3	0	0
Boyne City	9-5	0	0
Cheboygan	9-5	0	0
Charlevoix	4-10	0	0
Kalkaska	3-11	0	0
Harbor Springs	3-11	0	0
Grayling	3-11	0	0

Wrestling

Conference champions

Year	Champion
2025	Charlevoix

Team	Conference championship	District championships
Charlevoix	1	1
Grayling	0	0
Kingsley	0	0
Boyne City	0	1
Cheboygan	0	0
Kalkaska	0	1
Elk Rapids	0	0
Harbor Springs	0	0

Individual Champions

Year	106	113	120	126	132	138	144	150	157	165	175	190	215	285
2025	Andrew Betz	Gavin Holmes	Owen Lewicki	Gabriel Buyze-Prieto	Kalen Titus	Max Huspen	Bruyn Hauger	Colin Jess	Jordan Peters	Parker Grubb	Brady Warchol	Colton Goethals	Danny Bonamie	Luke Munger

Girls Skiing

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2024	Harbor Springs

Team	Conference championships	Final appearances	State championships	Best finish
Harbor Springs	1	1	1	1st
Charlevoix	0	0	0
Elk Rapids	0	1	0	8th
Boyne City	0	0	0
Grayling	0	0	0

Individual Champions

YEAR	Giant Slalom		YEAR	Slalom
2025	Drew Bowman, Harbor Springs		2025	Avery Kita, Lake Charlevoix

Boys Skiing

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2024	Harbor Springs

Team	Conference championships	Final appearances	Best finish
Elk Rapids	1	1	3rd
Harbor Springs	0	0
Charlevoix	0	0
Boyne City	0	0
Grayling	0	0

Individual Champions

YEAR	Giant Slalom		YEAR	Slalom
2025	Corbin Bogard, Great North Alpine		2025	Corbin Bogard, Great North Alpine

Boys Basketball

Conference Champions

Year	Champion	Record
2025	Elk Rapids	13-1

Team	Conference Record	Conference championship	District championships
Elk Rapids	13-1	1	0
Harbor Springs	12-2	0	1
Charlevoix	10-4	0	0
Boyne City	8-6	0	1
Cheboygan	7-7	0	0
Grayling	3-11	0	0
Kalkaska	3-11	0	0
Kingsley	0-14	0	0

Girls Basketball

Conference Champions

Year	Champion	Record
2025	Harbor Springs	14-0

Team	Conference Record	Conference championship
Harbor Springs	14-0	1
Kingsley	11-3	0
Elk Rapids	9-5	0
Boyne City	9-5	0
Cheboygan	5-9	0
Grayling	5-9	0
Charlevoix	3-11	0
Kalkaska	0-14	0

Boys Bowling

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2025	Elk Rapids

Girls Tennis

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2025	Harbor Springs

Boys Golf

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2025	Elk Rapids

Team	Conference championships	Final appearances	State championships	Best finish
Elk Rapids	1	0	0
Harbor Springs	0	0	0
Charlevoix	0	0	0
Kingsley	0	0	0
Cheboygan	0	0	0
Kalkaska	0	0	0
Boyne City	0	0	0
Grayling	0	0	0

Individual Champions

Year	Champion	School
2025	Bryce Boss	Charlevoix

State Finals Appearances

Year	School	Place	Division

Girls Soccer

Conference Champions

Year	Champion	Record
2025	Harbor Springs	12-0-0

Team	Conference Record	Conference championship
Harbor Springs	12-0-0	1
Elk Rapids	10-2-0	0
Boyne City	6-4-2	0
Cheboygan	5-4-3	0
Kingsley	3-8-1	0
Charlevoix	2-10-0	0
Grayling	1-11-0	0
Kalkaska	0-0-0	0

Softball

Conference Champions

Year	Champion	Record
2025	Elk Rapids	13-1

Team	Conference Record	Conference championship
Elk Rapids	13-1	1
Kingsley	11-3	0
Boyne City	10-4	0
Cheboygan	7-7	0
Grayling	7-7	0
Kalkaska	6-8	0
Charlevoix	2-12	0
Harbor Springs	0-14	0

Baseball

Conference Champions

Year	Champion	Record
2025	Elk Rapids	13-1

Team	Conference Record	Conference championship
Elk Rapids	13-1	1
Kingsley	12-2	0
Boyne City	10-4	0
Charlevoix	8-6	0
Harbor Springs	5-9	0
Kalkaska	4-10	0
Cheboygan	2-12	0
Grayling	2-12	0

Girls Track & Field

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2025	Kingsley

Individual Champions

Track Champions

Year	100M	Time	200M	Time	400M	Time	800M	Time	1600M	Time	3200M	Time	110M H	Time	300M H	Time
2025	Alivia Dear	13.02	Norah Galton	26.95	Hunter Shellenbarger	1:02.04	Delaney Little	2:29.64	Brynn Schulte	5:34.27	Adrianna Soria	12:37.10	Norah Galton	16.06	Norah Galton	46.51

Relay Champions

Year	4 X 100M	Time	4 X 200M	Time	4 X 400M	Time	4 X 800M	Time
2025	Kingsley	52.53	Harbor Springs	1:51.54	Elk Rapids	4:24.14	Harbor Springs	10:47.75

Field Champions

Year	Shot Put	Distance	Discus	Distance	High Jump	Height	Long Jump	Distance	Pole Vault	Height
2025	Adalene Chambers	35'10"	Adalene Chambers	113'10"	Delaney Case	5'0"	Alivia Dear	15'5"	Isabelle Seitz	8'0"

Boys Track & Field

Conference Champions

Year	Champion
2025	Charlevoix

Individual Champions

Track Champions

Year	100M	Time	200M	Time	400M	Time	800M	Time	1600M	Time	3200M	Time	110M H	Time	300M H	Time
2025	Tyler Unterbrink	11.18	Tyler Unterbrink	22.97	Brody Horrigon	51.91	Hunter Eaton	2:02.84	Hunter Eaton	4:36.42	Hunter Eaton	9:47.96	Max Ward	14.80	Max Ward	38.93

Relay Champions

Year	4 X 100M	Time	4 X 200M	Time	4 X 400M	Time	4 X 800M	Time
2025	Kingsley	44.61	Charlevoix	1:34.44	Elk Rapids	3:32.08	Grayling	8:40.52

Field Champions

Year	Shot Put	Distance	Discus	Distance	High Jump	Height	Long Jump	Distance	Pole Vault	Height
2025	Lucas Sidlaukas	49'0"	Chase Bott	162'3"	Chase Bott	6'0"	Gavin Lewis	20'0.5"	Korbin Bedford	11'6"

References

^ Kochanny, Drew (April 18, 2023). "Major shift coming in 2024 with newly formed Northern Shores Conference". Cheboygan Daily Tribune.
^ Cook, James; Quealy, Brendan (April 19, 2023). "Northern Shores Conference starting in 2024; TC St. Francis left without a league". Traverse City Record-Eagle.
^ Beeby, Harrison (April 18, 2023). "Northern Shores Conference to include eight area schools beginning next year". UpNorthLive. Traverse City, Michigan: WPBN-TV.
^ Cook, James. "NMFC faces major shift next year; Most of Northern Shores teams leaving for own football league". record-eagle.com.
^ "Pont Notre Dame Prep vs Elk Rapids (Nov 2, 2024)". mhsaa.com.

External links

[1] Kochanny, Drew (April 18, 2023). "Major shift coming in 2024 with newly formed Northern Shores Conference". Cheboygan Daily Tribune.

[2] Cook, James; Quealy, Brendan (April 19, 2023). "Northern Shores Conference starting in 2024; TC St. Francis left without a league". Traverse City Record-Eagle.

[3] Beeby, Harrison (April 18, 2023). "Northern Shores Conference to include eight area schools beginning next year". UpNorthLive. Traverse City, Michigan: WPBN-TV.

[4] Cook, James. "NMFC faces major shift next year; Most of Northern Shores teams leaving for own football league". record-eagle.com.

[5] "Pont Notre Dame Prep vs Elk Rapids (Nov 2, 2024)". mhsaa.com.

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