Illini Prairie Conference

The Illini Prairie Conference is a high school athletic conference in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), based in Central Illinois. The conference consists of ten medium-sized and small high schools and is a merger of the Corn Belt Conference and the Okaw Valley Conference. Conference athletics will begin in the 2017-18 school year.[1]

History

Member schools of the Corn Belt Conference and the Okaw Valley Conference began discussing a merger after the announced departures of Eureka High School and Mahomet-Seymour High School from the Corn Belt Conference in 2014 and 2015.[2] Principals of the ten schools voted unanimously in February 2016 to begin plans to merge the conferences.[3] School boards of the ten schools approved the new conference in March and April 2016.[4] Student bodies of each school submitted favorite names for the conference to the principals. Illini Prairie was selected unanimously by the principals.[5][6]

Member schools

School Community Team Name Colors IHSA class School type Year joined Joined from Year departed Departed for References
Central Catholic High School Bloomington Saints                1A/2A/3A Private 2017-18 Corn Belt [7]
Illinois Valley Central High School Chillicothe Grey Ghosts           4A Public 2017-18 Corn Belt [7][8]
Monticello High School Monticello Sages           4A Public 2017-18 Okaw Valley
Olympia High School Stanford Spartans                3A Public 2017-18 Corn Belt [7]
Pontiac Township High School Pontiac Indians 4A Public 2017-18 Corn Belt [7]
Prairie Central High School Fairbury Hawks 4A Public 2017-18 Corn Belt [7]
Rantoul Township High School Rantoul Eagles           4A Public 2017-18 Okaw Valley [8]
St. Joseph-Ogden High School St. Joseph Spartans                3A Public 2017-18 Okaw Valley
St. Thomas More High School Champaign Sabers           4A Private 2017-18 Okaw Valley
Unity High School Tolono Rockets           3A Public 2017-18 Okaw Valley

References

  1. ↑ "Corn Belt Conference merger approved, Illini Prairie Conference created". Chillicothe Times-Bulletin. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  2. ↑ Deacon, Joe (28 January 2016). "U High, CCHS hope to continue relationship, rivalry". The Pantagraph. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  3. ↑ Loveless, Matt (16 February 2016). "Okaw Valley, Corn Belt Conferences Approve Plans for Future Merger". WAND. Frankly Media. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  4. ↑ Zilis, Anthony (4 April 2016). "Okaw Valley, Corn Belt conferences will merge". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "Pontiac, PC now part of Illini Prairie". Pontiac Daily Leader. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Zilis, Anthony (20 April 2016). ""Illini Prairie" selected as name for Okaw Valley-Corn Belt merger | News-Gazette.com". The News Gazette. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Corn Belt - 2014-2015". http://www.ihsa.org. Illinois High School Association. Retrieved 10 March 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  8. 1 2 Kindred, Randy (7 February 2013). "Corn Belt Conference votes to add IVC". The Pantagraph. Retrieved 31 May 2016.

External links

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