Okaw Valley Conference

The Corn Belt Conference is a high school athletic conference in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), based in Central Illinois. The conference consists of five medium-sized and small high schools. It will merge with the Corn Belt Conference to form the Illini Prairie Conference in the 2017-18 school year.

History

The Okaw Valley Conference was formed in the early 1950s. It originally consisted of Arcola, Arthur, Atwood-Hammond, Bement, Cerro Gordo, Monticello, Newman, Oakland, Sullivan, Tuscola, and Villa Grove. Tolono Unity was added in 1958. In 1971, the smallest seven schools left to form the Little Okaw Valley, and three schools were added: Decatur St Teresa, St Joseph-Ogden, and Warrensburg-Latham. In 1976, Arcola left and Mahomet-Seymour replaced them. In 1982, Sullivan and Warrensburg-Latham left and Argenta-Oreana was added. Tuscola dropped out in 1983. The league folded after the 1984 season.

In 1990 Argenta-Oreana, Clinton, St Teresa, Monticello, Sullivan, and Warrensburg-Latham resurrected the conference, and in 1995, Meridian and Maroa-Forsyth were added. Central A&M joined in 1997, Shelbyville in 1999, and Tuscola and Unity in 2006. The conference was split into two divisions for football in 2006. The Black Division consisted of Clinton, Monticello, Shelbyville, St. Teresa, Sullivan, and Unity. The Blue Division consisted of Argenta-Oreana, Central A&M, Maroa- Forsyth, Meridian, Tuscola, and Warrensburg-Latham. Each team played the five schools from their division, and then four from the other division.

In 2012, 9 teams officially left the Okaw and started a new conference called the Central Illinois Conference (CIC). These schools were Argenta-Oreana, Clinton, St. T, Meridian, Central A&M, Sullivan, Shelbyville, Warrensburg-Latham,and Tuscola. Three teams were left out of the new conference. These teams were Monticello, Tolono, and Maroa-Forsyth. Before the actual forming of the CIC, Argenta-Oreana decided to join the Little Okaw Valley Conference. The Okaw Valley Conference continued with Monticello, Tolono-Unity, Maroa-Forsyth, Champaign St. Thomas More, St. Joseph-Ogden, and Rantoul.

Maroa-Forsyth High School left the conference for the Sangamo Conference after the 2015-16 school year.[1] In April 2016, school boards of the remaining five schools and the school boards of the five schools in the Corn Belt Conference voted unanimously to merge into a new Illini Prairie Conference beginning in the 2017-18 school year.[2]

Member schools

Institution Location Mascot Colors Affiliation 9–12 enrollment School website
Maroa-Forsyth Maroa, Illinois Trojans Royal Blue and Gold

         

 Public 312 http://www.mfschools.org
Monticello Monticello, Illinois Sages Purple and Gold

         

 Public 517 http://www.monticello.k12.il.us/mhs
Rantoul Rantoul, Illinois Eagles Purple and Gold

         

 Public 787 http://www.rths.k12.il.us
St. Joseph-Ogden St. Joseph, Illinois Spartans Maroon, White, Columbia Blue

              

 Public 486 http://www.sjo.k12.il.us
St. Thomas More Champaign, Illinois Sabers Hunter Green and Gold

         

 Private 279 / 460.35(multiplied) http://www.hs-stm.org/
Unity Tolono, Illinois Rockets Maroon and White

         

 Public 488 http://www.unityrockets.com/

Sports

The conference offers the following sports:

Boys sports

Girls sports

Notable accomplishments

Successes

References

  1. ↑ Loveless, Matt (16 February 2016). "Okaw Valley, Corn Belt Conferences Approve Plans for Future Merger". WAND. Frankly Media. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  2. ↑ "Corn Belt Conference merger approved, Illini Prairie Conference created". Chillicothe Times-Bulletin. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.

External links

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