The North Iowa Cedar League (NICL) is a high school athletic conference made up of 16 high schools in north central Iowa. Most of the schools compete as 2A schools, (the second-smallest classification). In 2014 with the addition of Sumner-Fredericksburg, the NICL's divisions will not be split up evenly with the East Division having nine schools while the West Division has seven schools.
History
As of the late 1990s, the conference was a 17 team league. In 1998, Wapsie Valley High School and Jesup High School joined the conference. That same year, Ackley-Geneva and Wellsburg-Steamboat Rock merged districts to become AGWSR. The next membership change came in 2002 when Green Mountain-Garwin (GMG) departed for the Iowa Star Conference. The next year, North Tama left for the Iowa Star Conference. In 2007, Eldora-New Providence and Hubbard-Radcliffe joined districts to become South Hardin High School. For the 2008 year, West Marshall was added to the conference, making it a 15-team league. In 2011, South Tama joined after leaving the Little Hawkeye Conference and started in the West Division. It became the 16th member of the conference. Northern University High School (Cedar Falls) played its final season in 2011-12, due to the University of Northern Iowa closing Malcolm Price Lab, which houses Northern University High. Waterloo Columbus joined in 2013. Sumner-Fredericksburg joined in 2014 to bring the total up to 16 members.