The Western Athletic Conference is one of the longest running associations of original-member schools in the state of Kansas. Established in 1984, the original members of the conference were Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hays, Liberal, and Ulysses for all sports except football and basketball.
Ulysses left the conference in the mid 1990’s, with their only conference titles coming in Girls Cross Country. The conference has consisted of the remaining five schools for the past 38 years, and now includes 22 sports and a WAC Marching Band Festival each fall.
More than 600 WAC championships have been earned since the league’s formation. Entering the 2022-23 school year, Great Bend has accumulated the most WAC titles with 151 championships. The Panthers have won the most girls championships with 95, while Liberal is on top with 72 boys championships.
In the 2008-09 school year the Champions Cup was established – recognizing the conference school who finished with the most points earned from the year end standings for each sport in which a champion was named.
The concept of the Champions Cup is to recognize every sport — giving them publicity and recognition as each sport has equal importance with respect to overall points. Through a sponsorship, first with State Farm Insurance, American Implement and now the Lewis Automotive Group, the conference also recognizes an All-Academic team each spring.
This partnership with previous area businesses and now Lewis Motors also has allowed the conference to provide leadership training for the past two years — an opportunity to promote sportsmanship, leadership, and camaraderie amongst conference athletes and schools.
Fall sports include boys and girls cross country, boys soccer, girls golf, girls tennis, volleyball and football. Winter sports that determine champions are boys and girls wrestling, boys and girls basketball, girls and boys bowling, and boys swimming. In the spring, league champions are determined in softball, baseball, girls and boys track and field, boys golf, boys tennis, girls swimming and girls soccer.
Championships are determined in a variety of ways, depending upon the sport.
Cross country is determined with a single day of racing for both boys and girls, with the top five finishers being named all-WAC, and the individual winner being declared Runner of the Year. Boys soccer is decided by a double round-robin schedule amongst the five schools, while girls and boys golf crowns its individual and team champion by each team hosting a one-day tournament with points awarded for the individual and team finishes in each of the five tournaments.
Girls tennis has a one-day tournament to determine its singles and doubles champions, with winners being named all-WAC. Girls and boys golf selects the top six individuals as first team all-WAC with the next six being named second team.
Volleyball selects six players for all-league first team consideration as well as coaches voting on the Player of the Year and Coach of the Year. Football selects a minimum of 11 all-league players and a second team list, player and coach of the year.
Wrestling team champions are determined by a round-robin of dual matches with each league member. The individual weight champion is named all-league and a wrestler and coach of the year is voted upon by the league coaches. Basketball selects five players in both girls and boys sports, along with a player and coach of the year.
Boys and girls swimming all-league is determined by their top finishers at the one-day league meet in the winter and spring seasons. A swimmer of the year and coach of the year is also chosen. Girls and boys bowling is decided by a combination of home-and-home dual matches and a one-day league tournament, with individual and team champions crowned.
Spring sports wrap up the school calendar season with softball and baseball conducting doubleheaders amongst the league schools (8 games for baseball and 11 games for softball to determine team champions), and then all-league individuals are voted upon by the coaches as well as player and coach of the year.
Boys golf and tennis, as did the girls in the fall, determine league champions by five tournaments, one hosted by each school for golf; a one-day tennis tournament for singles and doubles titlists. Girls swimming is also a one-day league meet while girls soccer plays a double round-robin schedule (8 games) to decide the league champion. In track and field, Dodge City hosts the annual finale with girls and boys divisions. The Champions Cup is presented at the end of the league meet to the winning school.
Administrative leadership has also been an important factor in the success of the WAC, with athletic directors, principals and superintendents all taking roles at the area, state and national levels. Coaches, too, have been in leadership positions with their respective organizations to which they belong.
