The end of the current school year and spring sports season will also mean the end of the Southwest Ohio Conference in its current form.
Harrison High School Athletic Director Mark Meibers said the league would disband following Talawanda’s departure to the Southwestern Buckeye League effective with the 2025-26 school year. Harrison and the other two schools in the SWOC, Mount Healthy and Northwest, agreed to dissolve the league in every sport but football.
All four schools will still play under the SWOC banner in 2025 and 2026 to satisfy existing multi-year contracts they have with their football opponents. Talawanda will move to the SWBL in football in 2027.
“We all agreed to amicably disband and look for other opportunities,” Meibers said Thursday. “We will continue to play each other.”
The SWOC had eight schools when it formed in 2013. Wilmington left before the 2014-2015 school year for the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference. Little Miami left after the 2019-2020 school year for the Eastern Cincinnati Conference. Edgewood and Ross left for the SWBL after the 2022-23 school year.
Harrison will compete as an independent in the 2025-26 school year. The immediate challenge has been adjusting schedules for different sports. Meibers said it has been a significant challenge in basketball.
“You want to play on a Friday night, which is a prime high school night, but everyone else is playing in their league,” he said. “Little things like that have been really challenging.”
Harrison, an OHSAA Division II team in most of the major team sports, has generally been successful in a lot of sports.
Both Harrison soccer teams had outstanding falls, combining for a 35-3-2 record. The football team was 10-3. The girls basketball team was 23-2.
Meibers said most of his programs have at least junior varsity squads in addition to varsity, and that the school is close to adding emerging sports lacrosse and boys volleyball.
Meibers is hoping to get Harrison into another league sooner rather than later, but that has not been easy.
The best fit for Harrison is the Eastern Cincinnati Conference, which has several longtime rivals and schools of similar size and success. But the ECC currently has 10 schools and has not invited Harrison because adding an 11th would create scheduling issues, especially in football.
The Greater Miami Conference also has 10 schools, which are all bigger schools who are Division I in every sport. Harrison’s location, off Interstate 74 near the Indiana border, can also be a challenge. Harrison plays nearby southeast Indiana neighbors in several sports.
“There are a lot of 10-team leagues in Ohio now, which really makes it difficult to expand,” Meibers said. “We have a lot to offer as a school and as a program. We’ll be applying to leagues and we’ll do everything we can to get opportunities for our kids.”
