The Carmel High School athletic program will be going independent in a couple months.
The home of the Greyhounds made that announcement Thursday afternoon, soon after it was reported that the Hoosier Crossroads Conference had decided not to admit Carmel and Center Grove into that league. Both schools will be formally leaving the Metropolitan Conference at the end of the winter sports season and had applied to join the HCC.
The eight HCC schools (Avon, Brownsburg, Fishers, Franklin Central, Hamilton Southeastern, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville) voted on Thursday to keep the conference membership at eight schools. The principals of the eight schools released a joint statement that afternoon, which was provided to the Reporter. It reads as follows:
“The mission of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference is to recognize the diversity of varied interests of its member schools and believe positive competitive desire is a basic tenet of a democratic society. The conference strives to present the best in academic, athletic, and artistic programs for all stakeholders while focusing on the development of leadership skills and positive sportsmanship for all participants.
“As Hoosier Crossroads Conference member schools, we are committed to providing outstanding academic, athletic, and arts experiences for our students. Singularly and collectively, we are committed to the mission of the HCC.
“The recent proposal by Carmel and Center Grove High Schools has created an opportunity for the HCC to reflect on this commitment and consider whether expansion to ten schools would be of benefit to our student programs and services. Earlier today, the HCC member schools voted to remain an eight-school conference.
“We are honored by the Carmel Greyhounds’ and Center Grove Trojans’ request and look forward to maintaining positive relationships with them in the future. As the HCC, we are committed to our partner schools and stand unified in the decision.”
Later that afternoon, Carmel High School athletic director Jim Inskeep made the announcement that the school would compete as an independent starting in the spring, although Carmel would not rule out affiliating with a conference in the future. For now, though, the Greyhounds will be an unaffiliated program.
The school released a statement on Twitter and also provided a copy of the Reporter. It reads as follows:
“Carmel High School will compete as an Independent starting in the Spring of 2022. The school will continue to consider options for future conference affiliations.
“‘The move to playing as an Independent school will bring some subtle changes to our athletic schedules,’ Athletic Director Jim Inskeep stated. ‘Many of the schedules will look very familiar, but the football schedule will likely see the most significant changes in 2023. We have been in discussions with several schools for the 2023 football schedule and beyond. Greyhound fans can expect terrific programs to be on the football schedule and exciting games to watch in Carmel Stadium.’
“The Carmel Athletics Department also announces a broadcasting agreement with the ISC Network to bring unparalleled coverage of Greyhound Sports to Central Indiana and a web streaming audience. The partnership will begin in the fall of 2022 with coverage of all home football games in addition to other sports. Further details on the broadcasting agreement will be provided this spring.
“The Carmel High School Athletics Department sponsors 25 varsity sports programs (nearly 1700 student-athletes). The programs have combined for 178 state championships, 162 of which are IHSAA titles. A great source of pride is the 65 graduates who have received a state mental attitude award. Student-athletes registered a cumulative GPA of 3.7 during the 2020-2021 school year.
“The Greyhounds will be an Independent for the first time since the 1965-1966 school year. Previously, the school held membership in three different conferences since starting competition in the Sagamore Conference (1966-1974), followed by membership in the Olympic Conference (1974-1996), and finally the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (1996-2022).”
Both Carmel and Center Grove were charter members of the MIC. Center Grove also announced it would compete as an independent as well.
