The SWANI Conference was formed in 1946 by a group of eight similarly-sized high schools: five in Wisconsin (Burlington, Delavan, Elkhorn, Lake Geneva and Whitewater) and three in Illinois (Harvard, Marengo and McHenry). The five Wisconsin high schools formerly comprised the Southern Five Conference, two high schools in Illinois (Harvard and Marengo) formerly competed in the North Six Conference, and McHenry competed independent of conference affiliation.[1] This cross-border loop lasted for six seasons before the five Wisconsin-based high schools voted to disband the SWANI Conference after the 1952 football season.[2] Soon after the conference's dissolution, the five Wisconsin high schools initiated talks with East Troy, Mukwonago and Wilmot (all members of the Southeastern Wisconsin Conference) to form a new athletic conference for the 1953-54 school year,[3] which eventually was named the Southern Lakes Conference.[4] The five former SWANI members played an independent home-and-home schedule for the remainder of the 1952-53 school year, filling open dates with the three members of the Southeastern Wisconsin Conference where feasible.[5] The three Illinois-based high schools joined the IHSA-affiliated SHARK Conference after the demise of the SWANI Conference in 1952.[6]
