Oct. 8—BEMIDJI — The wait is over.
Bemidji High School’s athletic programs have competed as an independent school for decades. However, at the start of the fall 2026 season, BHS will be part of the Central Lakes Conference.
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Bemidji will join Alexandria, Brainerd, Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Rocori, Sartell, Sauk Rapids-Rice, St. Cloud Tech, St. Cloud Apollo and Willmar in conference play.
“I’m super excited about it, and the coaches are excited, too,” BHS activities director Kristen McRae said. “It’s nothing out of the blue for us. We’ve been trying to get into the CLC for years, since probably 2008 or 2009, all the way back when Troy Hendricks started trying to get in.”
CLC schools are required to play at least one regular-season game against each opposing school in conference. Section games are not mandated by the Minnesota State High School League. Bemidji already competes in section play against several CLC teams across all sports, including Brainerd and Alexandria. Some schools, like Willmar and Sartell, compete against Bemidji in section play in select sports.
Being that CLC teams are required to play each other in the regular season, Bemidji’s admission alleviates some of the scheduling frustration it’s experienced in recent years.
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“A big issue some of the schools had was travel, because there’s no easy way to get to Bemidji from Willmar or Rocori, and it’s not easy for us to get there, too,” McRae said. “But we’re already on the road, driving. And it’s not like we have to do one home game and one away — every sport is different. But you need to compete against those schools at least once (each season), so right now, it’s about trying to get a friendly relationship with everyone (in the CLC).”
Each of the nine previously existing CLC schools conducted a vote on whether or not to admit Bemidji. While the vote was not unanimous, BHS received enough approval votes to be admitted.
“I was trying to figure out what the right time would be for this,” McRae said. “There’s a process and procedure for getting in.
“You can apply to be in a conference, and if they don’t want you in there, you can apply to be in another conference. If they shoot you down as well, then you can ask the Minnesota State High School League to intervene.”
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Bemidji did not look to join another conference, nor reached out to the MSHSL for assistance.
“We feel that we’re a good fit for the CLC, and if we didn’t get in here, then we’d have to look at another conference,” McRae said. “I don’t know if the conference on the Iron Range is a good fit for our school because we don’t pay any of those teams in sections. We compete against a lot of the CLC schools.”
Detroit Lakes was admitted to being a CLC member ahead of the 2024-25 athletics season.
“When I first started here in this position, there was some talk among the other activities directors about Detroit Lakes,” McRae said. “Brainerd and Sartell mentioned that Bemidji and Sartell would be a good fit for the CLC, just in terms of the size of the school, level of play, facilities and everything else.”
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Conferences have no impact on state-wide proceedings. Being in a conference does not determine a school’s standing in its respective section. There are also no postseason tournaments for conferences. Conference championships are exclusively regular-season awards.
Select BHS programs have already been in a conference. The boys and girls soccer teams were part of the Lakes to Prairie field. Now, they will play in the CLC.
The CLC was originally formed on Dec. 16, 1975, with the charter members Alexandria, Brainerd, Little Falls, St. Cloud Apollo, St. Cloud Tech and Willmar. The conference began play in the 1977-78 school year. Rocori (1988-89), Sartell (1995-96), Sauk Rapids-Rice (2002-03), Fergus Falls (2005-06) and Detroit Lakes (2024-25) have been added since.
Former members of the CLC include Cambridge, Elk River, Monticello and Little Falls.
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“The CLC is extremely organized,” McRae said. “Roger Willson has been running it for years. He is super proactive, already looking at what the fall schedules will look like. … For us, it’s just looking at games in the conference and our sections, then finding the games we need to find.”
McRae added that conference accolades are an important part of the equation for BHS programs.
“It’s exciting for the kids,” McRae said. “In addition to the team aspects, there’s also the individual athletes that can earn accolades in a variety of sports, being named to first or second team All-Conference. … For the kids to be recognized for what they’ve done and accomplished, it’s good for them. It’s something they can take with them after high school.”
