Illini Prairie Conference


The Illini Prairie Conference is a high school athletic conference in the Illinois High School Association, 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.

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. Principals of the ten schools voted unanimously in February 2016 to begin plans to merge the conferences. School boards of the ten schools approved the new conference in March and April 2016. Student bodies of each school submitted favorite names for the conference to the principals. Illini Prairie was selected unanimously by the principals.
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.
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.

Member schools



SchoolLocationMascotColorsSchool type2021-22 EnrollmentIHSA classYear joinedJoined fromReferences
Central Catholic High SchoolBloomington, IllinoisSaints Private321 / 530.48 1A/2A/3A2017Corn Belt
Illinois Valley Central High SchoolChillicothe, IllinoisGrey Ghosts Public6104A2017Corn Belt
Monticello High SchoolMonticello, IllinoisSages Public5193A2017Okaw Valley
Paxton-Buckley-Loda High SchoolPaxton, IllinoisPanthers Public4633A2020Sangamon Valley
Pontiac Township High SchoolPontiac, IllinoisIndians Public6564A2017Corn Belt
Prairie Central High SchoolFairbury, IllinoisHawks Public5283A2017Corn Belt
Rantoul Township High SchoolRantoul, IllinoisEagles Public7724A2017Okaw Valley
St. Joseph-Ogden High SchoolSt. Joseph, IllinoisSpartans Public4493A2017Okaw Valley
St. Thomas More High SchoolChampaign, IllinoisSabers Private257 / 424.88 2A2017Okaw Valley
Unity High SchoolTolono, IllinoisRockets Public5173A2017Okaw Valley

Previous Members