The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is a league of member schools of the Kansas State High School Activities Association

Kansas State High School Activities Association

The Kansas State High School Activities Association is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the state of Kansas at the high school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors championships in several sports and activities.The KSHSAA was...

. The league is made up of five large high schools in Western Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

. Member schools compete for championships in American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, soccer, golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, wrestling

Scholastic wrestling

Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...

, swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

, diving

Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

, track

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

, cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

 and softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

.

History

The league was formed in 1986 Roger Ellis, Garden City High School athletic director at the time, organized meetings with the largest schools west of Hutchinson: Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hays and Liberal. These schools had experienced trouble joining leagues in the past separately as leagues with smaller schools did not want them as it would disrupt competitive balance and leagues in central and eastern Kansas did not want them due to travel issues. The five had been playing as independents for at least a decade prior to the formation of the WAC.

For the first 10 years of the league's existence, Ulysses, a Class 4A school, was an associate member of the WAC in sports with individual elements, such as wrestling, tennis and golf but remained an independent in football, basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball. Ulysses eventually joined the Mid-State League and is currently a member of the Great West Activities Conference.

Current members

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! School
School Corporation
! Mascot
! Colors
! Enrollment
! KSHSAA

Kansas State High School Activities Association

The Kansas State High School Activities Association is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the state of Kansas at the high school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors championships in several sports and activities.The KSHSAA was...

 Classification
|-
| Great Bend

Great Bend High School

Great Bend High School is a public high school located in Great Bend, Kansas, serving students in grades 9-12. The school is in the Unified School District No. 428...

USD 428
| Panthers
|
| 690
| 5A
|-
| Hays
USD 489
| Indians
|
| 582
| 5A
|-
| Liberal

Liberal High School (Kansas)

Liberal High School is a fully accredited public high school, serving students in grades 9–12, located in Liberal, Kansas, USA. Liberal High School is the only high school within the city limits of Liberal, KS. The school colors are red and black. The enrollment for the 2009/2010 school year is...

USD 480
| Redskins
|
| 775
| 5A
|-
| Dodge City

Dodge City High School

Dodge City High School is a fully accredited high school located in the northwest area of Dodge City, Kansas, USA, serving students in grades 9-12. The school is operated by Dodge City Public Schools. The current principal is Jacque Feist...

USD 443
| Red Demons
|
| 1188
| 6A
|-
| Garden City

Garden City High School (Kansas)

Garden City High School is a fully accredited high school, serving students in grades 9–12, located in Garden City, Kansas, USA. The current principal is James Mireles. Garden City High School is the only high school within the city limits of Garden City, KS...

USD 457
| Buffaloes
|
| 1333
| 6A
|-