Keep in mind that Football doesnt play in the conferences.As long as I can remember Crestwood was more of a peer to Waukon and New Hampton than Decorah.
I was born in the 80's and that's when the big population drain in north Iowa was happening. Since the mid 90's, these schools have been in the same relative position to what they are today. So it's kind of amazing that they all put up with this gap for nearly (checks notes) 30 damn years.
I agree that it sucks for Decorah. I figured that Cresco, Waukon, and Decorah would always play each other. Hell, Cresco beat Decorah in football in 2022. It's more competitive than any of those schools have been with WSR.
Since the early 90s Iowa has used a district system that redraws by size every 2 years.
Honestly, the model works, and with the way the schools all around the state have changed, would probably be a good system to just make for all sports. Just make the football district the district for all sports.
I know this would get rid of some history, but over the last few decades schools have consolidated, grown and shrunk, and changed conferences so much that it isnt much of an issue anymore. People worried about this when they first did it for football, but it quickly was accepted and became the norm, it also made for much more fair competition.