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 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
AssociationIHSA
Members10
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]

Member schools
Central Catholic
Illinois Valley Central
Monticello
Olympia
Pontiac
Prairie Central
Rantoul
St. Joseph
St. Thomas
Unity
Illini Prairie Conference Members (clickable map)
School Location
(Population)		 Mascot Colors School type 2017-18 Enrollment IHSA class Year joined Joined from References
Central Catholic High School Bloomington, Illinois
(76,610)		 Saints       Private 319 / 526.35 (multiplied) 1A/2A/3A 2017 Corn Belt [7]
Illinois Valley Central High School Chillicothe, Illinois
(6,097)		 Grey Ghosts     Public 639 4A 2017 Corn Belt [7][8]
Monticello High School Monticello, Illinois
(5,548)		 Sages     Public 495 3A 2017 Okaw Valley
Olympia High School Stanford, Illinois
(596)		 Spartans       Public 530 3A 2017 Corn Belt [7]
Pontiac Township High School Pontiac, Illinois
(11,931)		 Indians     Public 675 4A 2017 Corn Belt [7]
Prairie Central High School Fairbury, Illinois
(3,757)		 Hawks     Public 569 4A 2017 Corn Belt [7]
Rantoul Township High School Rantoul, Illinois
(12,941)		 Eagles     Public 788 4A 2017 Okaw Valley [8]
St. Joseph-Ogden High School St. Joseph, Illinois
(3,967)		 Spartans       Public 468 3A 2017 Okaw Valley
St. Thomas More High School Champaign, Illinois
(81,055)		 Sabers     Private 295 / 486.75 (multiplied) 2A 2017 Okaw Valley
Unity High School Tolono, Illinois
(3,447)		 Rockets     Public 555 4A 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. "Corn Belt - 2014-2015". ihsa.org. Illinois High School Association. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  8. Kindred, Randy (7 February 2013). "Corn Belt Conference votes to add IVC". The Pantagraph. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
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