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 comprises ten medium-sized and small high schools resulting from the merging of the Corn Belt Conference and the Okaw Valley Conference. Conference athletics began in the 2017-18 school year.[1]

Illini Prairie Conference
ConferenceIHSA
No. of teams10 (one non-football)
RegionCentral Illinois

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]

Paxton-Buckley-Loda joined the conference at the start of the 2020-21 school year after, making the move after St. Thomas More decided to play an eight-man football schedule. PBL had played in the Sangamon Valley Conference since 1990. St. Thomas More remains a member of the Illini Prairie Conference in all other sports.[7]

Olympia in 2021, left the Illini Prairie Conference to join the Sangamo Conference, Thus leaving the Illini Prairie Conference with ten teams in the Conference and 9 of them that play football, still leaving St. Thomas-More an 8-man football team.[8]

Member schools
Illini Prairie Conference is located in Illinois
Central Catholic
Central Catholic
Illinois Valley Central
Illinois Valley Central
Monticello
Monticello
Pontiac
Pontiac
Prairie Central
Prairie Central
Rantoul
Rantoul
St. Joseph
St. Joseph
St. Thomas
St. Thomas
Unity
Unity
PBL
PBL
Illini Prairie Conference Members (clickable map)
School Location Mascot Colors School type 2021-22 Enrollment IHSA class Year joined Joined from References
Central Catholic High School Bloomington, Illinois Saints       Private 321 / 530.48 (multiplied) 1A/2A/3A 2017 Corn Belt [9]
Illinois Valley Central High School Chillicothe, Illinois Grey Ghosts     Public 610 4A 2017 Corn Belt [9][10]
Monticello High School Monticello, Illinois Sages     Public 519 3A 2017 Okaw Valley
Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School Paxton, Illinois Panthers     Public 463 3A 2020 Sangamon Valley
Pontiac Township High School Pontiac, Illinois Indians     Public 656 4A 2017 Corn Belt [9]
Prairie Central High School Fairbury, Illinois Hawks     Public 528 3A 2017 Corn Belt [9]
Rantoul Township High School Rantoul, Illinois Eagles     Public 772 4A 2017 Okaw Valley [10]
St. Joseph-Ogden High School St. Joseph, Illinois Spartans       Public 449 3A 2017 Okaw Valley
St. Thomas More High School Champaign, Illinois Sabers     Private 257 / 424.88 (multiplied) 2A 2017 Okaw Valley
Unity High School Tolono, Illinois Rockets       Public 517 3A 2017 Okaw Valley

See also

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. "Paxton-Buckley-Loda accepted into Illini Prairie Conference | High School Sports | pantagraph.com".
  8. Beherns, Bret (16 December 2020). "Olympia Leaving Illini Prairie Conference | WCIA.com". WCIA. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  9. "Corn Belt - 2014-2015". ihsa.org. Illinois High School Association. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  10. Kindred, Randy (7 February 2013). "Corn Belt Conference votes to add IVC". The Pantagraph. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
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