One of the oldest and most storied high school athletic conferences in the state will take on a bit different look over the next two school years. For the coming school year, National Trail Conference will see not one but two full sports co-ops begin. Earlier this year, the Windsor and Stewardson-Strasburg school districts approved a full sports co-op and will be known as the Windsor/Stew-Stras Hatchets beginning with the coming school year. Most recently, the Cowden-Herrick and Beecher City school boards last month approved to co-op the remaining sports for their schools, and will be keeping the BCCH and CHBC names depending on where each sport is hosted. The co-ops will bring the team total to eight for the conference for the 2015-16 school year.
While the two newest co-ops will mean two less teams for some sports, the conference will gain a new school/team for the 2016-17 school year. This past spring, North Clay was approved to join both the NTC, coming over from the Midland Trail Conference, following the lead of South Central and Dieterich who had made the same switch in the last 6 years.