The Mississippi 8 Conference (M8) is a high school athletic and activities conference in the Twin Cities area in Central Minnesota with 10 member high schools. The conference derives its name from 6 of the original 8 member schools being located within 10 miles from the Mississippi River.
History
The M8 was formed in 2004 with eight charter members: Becker, Big Lake, Buffalo, Cambridge-Isanti, Monticello, Princeton, Rogers and St. Michael-Albertville (STMA), and began play in the 2005-2006 school year. Zimmerman High School was added to the conference in 2008.
Elk River High School entered the M8 as a competitor in the sport of football in 2010 and Duluth East and Duluth Denfeld High Schools joined the conference for football in the fall of 2012. St. Francis, Chisago Lakes Area, and North Branch Area High School began competing in the Mississippi 8 Conference during 2013-14 school year.
Princeton School District and Zimmerman High School voted to withdraw their participation from the Mississippi 8 in favor of a new conference, Granite Ridge Conference, for the 2011 school year. Becker School District, and Elk River High School left the conference in 2012, Becker joined the Granite Ridge Conference, and Elk River High School football will rejoin the Northwest Suburban Conference. In the 2013-14 school year, Princeton rejoined the M8.
Members
The conference currently consists of 10 member schools.
After the 2014 football season schools in the state of Minnesota were placed into one of 18 districts. The purpose of the changes was to reduce scheduling headaches for several schools.[3] All of the schools in the Mississippi 8 Conference were placed into the North Central District for the 2015 season. Prior to the 2017 season STMA was reclassified to 6A, as a result the school plays in the Metro District [4] and North Branch was moved to the Northest District. The other 8 schools continue to play in the North Central District.
Minnesota