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| Luther will be welcomed by the Midwest Conference starting in the fall of 2026. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com |
The Midwest Conference announced on Tuesday, June 3 that Luther College will join the league beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.
The addition of Luther solidifies the MWC’s regional footprint, increasing membership to 10 schools - three in Iowa (Cornell, Grinnell, Luther), four in Illinois (Illinois College, Knox, Lake Forest and Monmouth College) and three in Wisconsin (Beloit, Lawrence and Ripon).
“While other leagues in our region are primarily (contained within single states), we truly are the D-III athletic conference of the Midwest,” says executive director Heather Benning. “When the league was formed 104 years ago, the intent was to establish an interstate athletic union of like-minded institutions; what binds our schools isn’t necessarily geographic proximity but rather a shared vision of the role of athletics in the undergraduate experience.”
Luther was a charter member of the ARC, dating to 1922. Cornell, also in Iowa, left the ARC (then the IIAC) for the Midwest Conference after the 2011-12 sports season.
Schools in the Midwest Conference give primary attention to the educational purpose of athletics, while maintaining that academic and athletic achievement are not mutually exclusive. Competitive success, academic engagement and the holistic development of student-athletes are at the core of the conference’s mission.
“Luther’s interest in the Midwest Conference was met with broad-based enthusiasm by the members of the Presidents’ Council,” said Grinnell president Anne Harris - who also serves as chair of the council. “Its mission and vision for its athletic programs perfectly complement that which we believe to be distinguishing characteristics of the Midwest Conference experience.”
Luther sponsors all 18 league sports, in addition to six others - including men’s and women’s golf. The Norse have produced twenty-nine individual national champions and have been recipients of 355 All-America honors. Forty-three student-athletes have received the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and 73 have been awarded a College Sports Communicators (formerly known as CoSIDA) Academic All-America honor. Luther is a Phi Beta Kappa institution, and the athletic department is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society.
On the decision to move from the American Rivers Conference to the Midwest Conference, Luther College president Brad Chamberlain said: “Luther College is a proud Iowa college with a regional presence and a national reputation. At Luther, athletics is about community, character, and competition. Athletics at Luther is part of our holistic approach to learning that develops mind, body, and spirit. In the Midwest Conference, Luther finds partner institutions that share our philosophy towards athletics and that match the geographical diversity of our student body. Luther was honored to receive an invitation from the Midwest Conference, and we look forward to joining the league in 2026.”