Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (MIC) will undergo an agreed conference realignment that has Terre Haute South and Terre Haute North being replaced by Lawrence Central and Pike. This will form a new eight-team conference made up of Indianapolis-area high schools.

Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South were admitted into the MIC in 1996, but they have recently suffered a drop in students, widening their enrollment gap with the other MIC schools. This enrollment gap, coupled with Terre Haute South and Terre Haute North being a class lower in football than the other MIC schools, led to the decision to replace them.

Athletics Director Jim Inskeep said he thinks the conference realignment will also have many impacts on the other teams in the MIC, including the travel plans of many Carmel teams.

“It is unlikely we will continue contracts with both Terre Haute South and Terre Haute North on into future schedules in most sports,” Inskeep said.

Maggie Rees, women’s golf team member and sophomore, will be affected by these changes during her senior year. Rees said the conference realignment will directly alter her team’s schedule during the 2014-15 year.

“We are used to playing against Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South in the MIC Championship,” Rees said. “It will be a lot different seeing two different teams in the MIC Championship that we hadn’t seen the previous three years.”

Inskeep also said the MIC could gain more media coverage.

“With two new teams coming to the conference, the visibility of the MIC will be raised,” Inskeep said.

Rees said she likes the idea of the MIC gaining popularity but fears possible distractions the media attention could cause.

“It would be fun for sports like women’s golf to gain a little more media attention because we go fairly unnoticed,” Rees said. “However, if it became a distraction for the team to practice or play I don’t think many of my team members would enjoy it.”