Welcome to the first official Fall 2024 MCAC State Tournament weekend!
We are thankful for Lake Region Christian School for being a gracious host for this year’s fall State Tournament. Thank you to all the volunteers, coaches, players, and spectators who will help make this weekend a success for all our teams! We are thankful for all the players competing in the arena this weekend as they display their God given talents in ways that bring joy to all of us. And we are thankful for the common unity our schools share through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! May everything we say and do this weekend be honoring towards Him and to each other.
History of the League
The Minnesota Christian Athletic Conference, also known as the MCAC, was formed earlier this year when two separate Christian school athletic leagues merged together to form a new league. In late spring, the Christian Athletic League (CAL) and the Minnesota Association of Christian Schools (MACS) formed a joint committee, which eventually became the new MCAC Executive Board. The MCAC board has met throughout the summer and into the fall to work out many of the details of the formation of this new league. The MCAC board is composed of six Athletic Directors from three CAL schools and three MACS schools who have worked tirelessly to form a new league handbook which provides the basis for the league’s rules, regulations, and format and will continue to provide general oversight for all league activity to ensure the smooth operation of the league.
In part, the introduction in the MCAC handbook reads: The MCAC exists as an outflow of our member school’s strong commitment to Christian Education and our desire to consistently train our young people in all areas of life on the foundation of Biblical values and truth. The MCAC offers one avenue for our students to practically live out their Christian faith in the athletic arena as we enjoy athletic competition with other Christian schools of similar size and philosophy. The MCAC values and seeks to foster long-standing and meaningful relationships between its member schools and participants.
In this inaugural season, the MCAC has 33 varsity teams representing 18 different schools. There are 8 additional schools which are currently only able to compete at the sub-varsity level (JV) but hope to be able to compete at the varsity level in the near future. The formation of the new league provides an increase in competition across our member schools in ways that will serve our student-athletes well for many years to come. The MCAC currently sponsors 5 varsity level sports with accompanying State Tournaments: Boys Soccer, Girls Volleyball, Girls Basketball, Boys Basketball, and Girls Soccer. We are excited for the possibilities that await including building new relationships among our schools and the opportunity for league expansion by involving more Christian schools and additional sports as the league becomes more established.
Fall State Tournament Format
After competing in the fall season, the varsity volleyball teams were seeded into the top 16 teams and varsity soccer teams were seeded into the top 15 teams to form their respective State Tournament bracket. First round tournament games were played earlier this week and hosted by the higher seed. The top 8 winning teams coming out of the first round were placed in the Tier 1 bracket and the bottom teams were placed into the Tier 2 bracket. The Tier 2 bracket will play through Friday and winners will be awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies. The Tier 1 bracket will play through Saturday and winners will be awarded Championship, 2nd, 3rd, and Consolation place trophies. A select group of players participating in this weekend’s tournament will be chosen to the First and Second All-Tournament Teams. In addition, a First Team All-Conference, Second Team All-Conference, and honorable Mention team have been selected to honor the top athletes from across the league from regular season play. These teams can be found in the tournament program and will be announced and handed their awards on Friday in the gymnasium after the Tier 2 volleyball championship game.
Obviously, there are many people involved in many different ways to make a league like ours and the associated State Tournament a success. We look forward with eager anticipation to what this State Tournament weekend will bring not only in success for our teams but also in building new and lasting relationships among our schools.
In Christ,
Jeff Bonkoski (MCAC Co-director)