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	IHSA class	School type	Year joined	Joined from	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

↑ "Corn Belt Conference merger approved, Illini Prairie Conference created". Chillicothe Times-Bulletin. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
↑ Deacon, Joe (28 January 2016). "U High, CCHS hope to continue relationship, rivalry". The Pantagraph. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
↑ Loveless, Matt (16 February 2016). "Okaw Valley, Corn Belt Conferences Approve Plans for Future Merger". WAND. Frankly Media. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
↑ Zilis, Anthony (4 April 2016). "Okaw Valley, Corn Belt conferences will merge". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
↑ "Pontiac, PC now part of Illini Prairie". Pontiac Daily Leader. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
↑ 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.
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)
1 2 Kindred, Randy (7 February 2013). "Corn Belt Conference votes to add IVC". The Pantagraph. Retrieved 31 May 2016.

External links

Illinois High School Association

Boys' Sports	Baseball Basketball (championship) Bowling Cross Country Football Golf Gymnastics Soccer Swimming and Diving Tennis Track and Field Volleyball Water Polo Wrestling

Girls' Sports	Badminton Basketball Bowling Competitive Cheerleading Cross Country Golf Gymnastics Soccer Softball Swimming and Diving Tennis Track and Field Volleyball Water Polo

Activities	Bass Fishing Chess Debate Drama and Group Interpretation Journalism Music Scholastic Bowl Individual Events

Special Co-ed Activities	Wheelchair basketball Three-Point Showdown Spirit

Emerging Sports	Boys' and Girls' Lacrosse Dance Team

Athletic Conferences	Apollo Big Northern Big Rivers Big Twelve Black Diamond Cahokia Central Illinois Conference Central State Eight Central Suburban Chicago Catholic Chicago Prep Chicago Public Corn Belt DuPage Valley East Central Illini East Suburban Catholic Egyptian Illini Fox Valley Girls Catholic Greater Egyptian Heart of Illinois Illini Prairie Independent School Inter County Interstate Eight Kishwaukee River Lincoln Trail Little Illini Little Okaw Valley Little Ten Metro Suburban Metropolitan Prep Mid-Illini Mid-South Mid-Suburban Midland Trail Mississippi Valley MSM National Trail North Suburban Northeastern Northern Illinois Big 12 Northern Illinois Northwest Upstate Illini Okaw Valley Pike County Prairie State Prairieland River Valley Sangamo Sangamon Valley South Central South Egyptian South Seven South Suburban Southern Illinois River-to-River Southland Southwestern Southwest Prairie Southwest Suburban Suburban Christian Three Rivers Tomahawk Tri-County Upstate Eight Vermilion Valley West Central West Suburban Western Big 6 Western Illinois Valley

Former Conferences	Ambraw Valley Bi-County Blackhawk Bureau Valley Capitol Cenois Central Egyptian Conference Coal Belt Cook County Des Plaines East Okaw Eastern Illinois Four Rivers Illini 8 Illini Central Illini Valley Indian Valley Kankakee Valley La Moine Valley Little 7 Little 8 Mid-Northern Mid-State Mid-State Six Midwest Midwestern New Salem North Central Illinois North Egypt Northwest Illinois Northwest Suburban Olympic Quad Cities Metro Route 72 SHARK South Inter-Athletic Southern Illini Southwest Egyptian Spoon River Stephenson County Suburban Suburban Prairie Tollway Upstate Illini US Grant Wauseca West Prairie Trail Western Area Western Sun Wilco

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