411:. The conference was established in 1927 and went through many changes as schools only wanted to participate in certain sports. In 1994 Sioux Falls Lincoln, Roosevelt, Washington and O'Gorman were forced to leave the Sioux Interstate Conference with Sioux City, Iowa schools due to the non traditional girls sports seasons. The four schools applied for ESD membership but were denied due to the conference not wanting to expand beyond eight teams, in 1996 The Sioux Falls Schools approached Independent West River Schools Rapid City Central, Rapid City Stevens, Spearfish and Sturgis Brown to form a conference. After several attempts, the Greater Dakota Conference was formed. In the late 2000s West River schools have pushed to join the ESD Conference only to be denied membership, the 2012-2013 school year the Greater Dakota Conference will cease as a new Conference named the Metro Conference will be formed consisting of Sioux Falls Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, O'Gorman and Brandon Valley, thereby leaving Rapid City Stevens, Rapid City Central and Sturgis out of a conference. (Spearfish left the GDC for the Black Hills Conference in 2011 due to dropping to Class A.) The Metro Conference was formed due to travel concerns as the distance between Sioux Falls and Rapid City is 396 miles. Brandon Valley and Harrisburg will be in a dual membership with the Metro and ESD Conferences. In 2015 Rapid City Stevens and Central both got into the ESD, only for football. In the 2021–22 season, the football conferences were realigned and Aberdeen Central and Watertown dropped down to 11AA, leaving Brandon, Harrisburg, Stevens, Rapid City Central and the Sioux Falls schools in 11AAA. In football that leaves Aberdeen Central, Brookings, Huron, Mitchell, Pierre, Watertown, and Yankton in 11AA with a couple of other teams. Due to the massive growth to the Sioux Falls area and its schools, there is concern that Brandon and Harrisburg might just become too big for the ESD. In 2023 it was announced that Tea Area would join the ESD in the 2024–25 season, which will move them up to Class AA in all sports.
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69:, boys & girls track & field, boys and girls cross country, volleyball, wrestling, competitive dance & cheer, and, starting in 2012, boys & girls soccer.
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The
Eastern South Dakota Conference consists of eight of the Class AA teams in the
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is a high school athletic conference made up of nine teams of Class AA in the
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High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States
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http://local.brookings.k12.sd.us/activities/esdhistory.pdf
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434:1927 establishments in South Dakota
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61:. All schools are members of the
381:Sioux Falls Washington Warriors
102:Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles
51:Eastern South Dakota Conference
17:Eastern South Dakota Conference
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286:Yankton Bucks & Gazelles
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215:Rapid City Central Cobblers
198:Pierre T.F. Riggs Governors
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233:Rapid City Stevens Raiders
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385:Sioux Falls Washington HS
349:Vermillion Tanagers
118:Brandon Valley Lynx
43:10 (12 for football)
365:Redfield Pheasants
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399:Conference history
150:Harrisburg Tigers
134:Brookings Bobcats
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333:Madison Bulldogs
312:Team & mascot
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269:Watertown Arrows
182:Mitchell Kernels
122:Brandon Valley HS
81:Team & mascot
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251:Tea Area Titans
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73:Current members
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274:Watertown HS
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202:T.F.Riggs HS
138:Brookings HS
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59:South Dakota
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40:No. of teams
369:Redfield HS
344:1935, 1982
322:Year joined
256:Tea Area HS
186:Mitchell HS
96:Year joined
428:Categories
415:References
407:Region of
405:East River
341:1927,1939
337:Madison HS
290:Yankton HS
238:Stevens HS
220:Central HS
106:Central HS
91:Enrollment
57:Region of
55:East River
22:Conference
327:Year left
170:Huron HS
67:football
32:Founded
317:School
278:1,259
242:1,726
224:1,844
158:1,478
126:1,306
110:1,412
86:School
63:SDHSAA
26:SDHSAA
392:1966
389:1927
376:1931
373:1927
360:1932
357:1930
297:1927
281:1927
263:2024
245:2015
227:2015
209:1966
193:1927
177:1927
161:2012
145:1927
129:1989
113:1927
294:944
260:568
206:854
190:916
174:774
142:999
49:The
35:1927
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