Athletic Affiliations
NAIA logoMount Mercy is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the Midwest Collegiate Conference (MCC). The NAIA has 50,000 student-athletes participating at nearly 300 member colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada, and offers 23 championships in 13 sports.

The Midwest Collegiate Conference began as a basketball conference prior to the 1988-89 season. By the time the 1988 school year began, women's volleyball and men's soccer were also recognized as conference sports, providing the league with two male and two female sports. The conference was founded and remains affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

The six original members of the league, which called itself the Midwest Catholic Conference, were Clarke College (Iowa), Edgewood College (Wis.), Marycrest University (Iowa), Mount Mercy College (Iowa), Mount St. Clare College (Iowa) and Viterbo College (Wis.). In 1989, Grand View College (Iowa) replaced Edgewood and the league changed its name to the Midwest Classic Conference.

The St. Ambrose University (Iowa) men's basketball program joined the conference in 1990, while the rest of the university's sports followed suit a year later. Iowa Wesleyan College came on board in 1995, giving the MCC eight members. However, a year later Clarke dropped out to join the NCAA Division III Northern Illinois and Iowa Conference. In 2001, William Penn University (Iowa) was added to the conference, but again an eight-team league was short-lived when Marycrest shut its doors at the end of the 2001-02 season.

MCC logoNow called the Midwest Collegiate Conference after a name change in 2007, the MCC is once again a nine-team league. Original members Clarke (which rejoined the conference in 2007), Mount Mercy, Viterbo, and Ashford University (formerly The Franciscan University or Mount St. Clare) are joined by Grand View, Iowa Wesleyan, St. Ambrose, William Penn, and Waldorf College, which was added to the league prior to the 2003-04 season.