Two new Lincoln schools are set to join Blair High School's Eastern Midlands Conference (EMC) by August 2023, building the league back up to eight athletic and activity programs.
Blair Community Schools Supt. Randy Gilson, the EMC President, submitted a press release from the conference announcing the news Wednesday. Lincoln Northwest will join the EMC ranks when it opens in 2022 before Standing Bear High School joins in 2023.
“Bennington, Blair, Elkhorn High, Elkhorn North, Norrisi, and Waverly are thrilled to have Lincoln Northwest and Standing Bear join the EMC, and look forward to future participation in events with both schools,” the release stated.
Blair's conference, which started in 1980, has been down to six schools in recent years after the 2020 departures of Plattsmouth and Nebraska City to the Trailblazer Conference. Elkhorn North opened and joined the EMC that fall.
Gilson told the Enterprise on Wednesday evening that the conference has explored expansion ever since it dropped to six members. He called Lincoln Public Schools joining the EMC a “mutual effort” between LPS and the conference.
More details concerning EMC expansion will appear in next Tuesday's Washington County Pilot-Tribune newspaper.
