August 20, 2025, the Heartland Athletic Conference announced they would be expanding their Class A conference to 12 schools, now including Lincoln Northwest and Standing Bear High School as they move up to Class A for the 2026-27 school year. Meanwhile, Fremont will move to the Metro Conference located in the Omaha area for the 2026-27 school year, creating an even 12-team conference.
Pius X moved to the Class B division in the 2024-25 school year, making the Heartland Athletic Conference an 11-team conference for two years, until 2026-27 when it will include two new additions – Lincoln Standing Bear and Northwest moving up from the Eastern Midlands Conference – and one loss of Fremont to Metro.
Both Lincoln Standing Bear and Lincoln Northwest have been continuously growing since their opening in 2022. Now that the schools have hit 850 students, they have moved up to Class A, which made the schools eligible for joining the Heartland Athletic Conference. Schools can always opt for Class A, but there are few benefits to doing so without the numbers.
The change was well supported by current members of HAC as it invites the rest of LPS schools into HAC, and it evens out the number, allowing for scheduling to become easier.
This move may come as an early shock to the athletes as the new school had just started settling in with their season.
“I do think the change came too soon because if we got just one more year I think we would have a pretty good chance at winning state,” Sam Cooper, Standing Bear junior and number one singles tennis player said.
The two NSAA Class A conferences are Metro and Heartland Athletic: although there are other Class B and smaller Class conferences as well. The conferences make schedules simpler, and LPS works to make the conferences as even as possible, which is often the driving factor to NSAA’s two super-conferences.
Conferences have always changed at a steady rate, but in the last few years as colleges now have conferences that stretch across the country and are continuously changing, this pattern is starting to leak into high school conferences.
“Whatever happens at higher levels—NFL, NCAA—eventually trickles down,” Zach Limbach, Lincoln East Athletic Director said. “The HAC and Metro are already like super-conferences. I could see schools breaking away to form new leagues. Finances, competitive balance, and student experience all drive decisions. We want athletics to be a positive experience, and if realignment helps, we’ll do it.”
As the conference’s are supposed to do, this change will affect Standing Bear athletes with a major change in competition often for their benefit.
“I am looking forward to moving to HAC because I will play a larger variety of schools,” Cooper said. “In Class B, we played a lot of very easy matches before getting to a challenging one, so not all of the matches were super helpful for our records.”
Consolidation will benefit Standing Bear, and although their increasing number of students means fewer students at Lincoln East, East continues to accept change and adapt.
“At East, we focus on what we can control—developing athletes, supporting coaches, and creating a great student-athlete experience,” Limbach said. ”Winning becomes a byproduct. That approach has led to success across our programs, including NSAA Cup championships.”
Standing Bear is excited for the change, because this will continue to push every athlete in the state as numbers grow, and competition increases.
“Hopefully HAC will challenge the team more and allow them to make quicker progress,” Cooper said.
“Schools grow or shrink, and classifications adjust. Western Nebraska sees consolidation to survive, while eastern Nebraska sees growth,” Limbach said.
Growth is occurring throughout the state, and the conference change is proof of it.
