Three Rivers Conference (Illinois)

The Three Rivers Conference, also known as the TRAC-8, is a high school conference in northwest Illinois. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference comprises small public, and two private, high schools with enrollments between 200-600 students in portions of Bureau, Henry, Lee, Rock Island, and Whiteside counties.

Current Membership

''Sources:IHSA Conferences, IHSA Coop Teams, and IHSA Member Schools Directory''

History

The Three Rivers Conference formed in 1975, and was largely the result of the dissolution of two conferences that had also included high schools in Iowa. Fulton, Morrison, Riverdale, Savanna and Sterling Newman had been part of the Illowa Conference along with Iowa schools North Scott of Eldridge, Central Clinton of De Witt, and St. Mary's High School of Clinton. Erie and Prophetstown were members of a league with the Iowa-based Pleasant Valley, Camanche and Northeast of Goose Lake. The seven Illinois schools joined with Amboy to form the new TRAC-8 conference.
Throughout the conference's history, alignment changes included the departure of Savanna, which went on to join the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference, and the additions of Bureau Valley in the mid-1990s and Kewanee in 2010. Upon the addition of Kewanee, the league became known as the TRAC-9. In addition, Erie and Prophetstown formed a cooperative to share certain sports programs, including football and wrestling.
On January 12, 2012 the conference approved expansion for six schools to join the league beginning in the 2013-14 school year. Included in the expansion are Orion, Rockridge, Sherrard, Princeton, St. Bede Academy of Peru and Spring Valley Hall. The six additions make the Three Rivers a 15-team league, one of the largest in Illinois. The conference will be split into two divisions, with Interstate 80 being the dividing line.
Following the 2015-16 school year, Amboy left the conference and joined the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference for the 2016-17 school year. Following the 2021 season, Fulton also left to join the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference, however, Mendota and Monmouth-Roseville, who had been playing football within the conference since 2016, joined the conference fully as their replacement.
Current members Bureau Valley, Erie-Prophetstown, Kewanee, Mendota, Monmouth-Roseville, Morrison, Orion, Peru St. Bede, Princeton, Riverdale, Rockridge, Sherrard, Spring Valley Hall, and Sterling Newman. The divisions in the conference are geographically set.

The East includes: Bureau Valley, Kewanee, Mendota, St. Bede, Princeton, Hall and Newman Central Catholic.
The West includes: Erie-Prophetstown, Monmouth-Roseville, Morrison, Orion, Riverdale, Rockridge and Sherrard.

In 2024, Morrison is the third team from the conference to migrate to the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference, joining Amboy and Fulton. This move, however will refresh the rivalry between Fulton and Morrison, the Battle for the Wooden Shoe.

Football

The Three Rivers Conference dropped football from 1999 until the 2013-14 school year. During this hiatus, the league offered championships in other sports, and member schools, either independently or as part of a co-operative, participated in the football-exclusive Big Rivers Conference.
In early 2012, it was announced that Orion, Rockridge, Sherrard, all former members of the Olympic Conference, and Princeton accepted an invitation for full membership in the Three Rivers Conference at the start of the 2013-14 school year. These four schools, along with Hall, Kewanee, and St. Bede Academy make up the seven teams in the newly created South Division. The North Division includes Amboy-La Moille, Bureau Valley, Erie-Prophetstown, Fulton, Morrison, Newman Central Catholic, and Riverdale. The decision to create a geographical North-South alignment was based upon a desire to maintain existing rivalries and minimize travel times.
The football schedule includes six intra-divisional games and three rotating inter-divisional cross-over match-ups. Each division will award a conference champion.
Because the Big Rivers Conference and the Three Rivers Conference, co-operatives excepted, consist of the same member schools with this most recent expansion, the decision was made to drop the Big Rivers name in favor of the longer-standing Three Rivers Conference.
See the Big Rivers Conference article for information about its history, achievements, and participating schools.

Previous Members

School	Location	Mascot	Colors	Year joined	Previous conference	Year left	New conference	Consolidations
Amboy High School	Amboy	Clippers		1975	SHARK	2016	Northwest Upstate Illini	n/a
Erie High School	Erie	Cardinals		1975	Bi-State	2018*	none	n/a
Fulton High School	Fulton	Steamers		1975	Illowa	2021	Northwest Upstate Illini	added some Albany
Morrison High School	Morrison	Mustangs		1975	Illowa	2024	Northwest Upstate Illini	n/a
Prophetstown High School	Prophetstown	Prophets		1975	Bi-State	2018*	none	added Lyndon added Tampico
Savanna High School	Savanna	Indians		1975	Illowa	1998	n/a	Consolidated with Mt Carroll and Thompson to form West Carroll

Membership timeline

Prior to the development of the TRAC-8, the IHSA was pushing teams to end multi-state conferences. Therefore, Fulton, Morrison, Riverdale, Savanna and Newman came from the dissolved Illowa Conference, Amboy left the Wisconsin-Illinois SHARK Conference and Erie and Prophetstown, then competing as individual high schools, left the Iowa-Illinois Pleasant Valley Conference.
From 1999 to 2012, the TRAC-8 dropped football from the conference. In order to maintain competition, the teams from the Three Rivers' football programs including: Amboy, Erie, Fulton, Morrison, Sterling Newman, Prophetstown, Riverdale, and Savanna joined the ranks of Tri-County Conference schools Peru St. Bede, Bureau Valley, Ottawa Marquette, Eureka, and Bradford to make up the newly formed Big Rivers Conference's Illinois Division.

DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1150 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1975 till:2024
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors = id:barcolor
id:line value:green
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a full member in a football coop
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Northwest 8 Conference
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the NWIC
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Mid Northern Conference
id:OtherC3 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the SHARK Conference
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1975 till:2016 text:Amboy
bar:1 color:AssocF from:2016 till:end text:Northwest Upstate Illini
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1975 till:2018 text:Erie
bar:2 color:white from:2018 till:end text:
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1975 till:2020 text:Fulton
bar:3 color:AssocF from:2020 till:end text:Northwest Upstate Illini
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1975 till:2024 text:Morrison
bar:4 color:AssocF from:2024 till:end text:Northwest Upstate Illini
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1975 till:end text:Riverdale
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1975 till:2018 text:Prophetstown
bar:6 color:white from:2018 till:end text:
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1999 text:Savanna
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1999 till:2001 text:UIC
bar:7 color:AssocF from:2001 till:2005 text:NUIC
bar:7 color:white from:2005 till:end text:Consolidated into West Carroll
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1975 till:end text:Sterling Newman
bar:9 color:AssocOS from:1975 till:1999 text:Bureau Valley Tri-County
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1999 till:end text:
bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:1975 till:2010 text:Kewanee North Central Illinois
bar:10 color:FullxF from:2010 till:end text:
bar:11 color:OtherC3 from:1975 till:2013 text:Orion Olympic
bar:11 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:
bar:12 color:OtherC3 from:1975 till:2013 text:Rockridge Olympic
bar:12 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:
bar:13 color:OtherC3 from:1975 till:2013 text:Sherrard Olympic
bar:13 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:
bar:14 color:OtherC2 from:1975 till:2013 text:Princeton North Central Illinois
bar:14 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:
bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:1975 till:2013 text:St. Bede North Central Illinois
bar:15 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:
bar:16 color:OtherC2 from:1975 till:2013 text:Spring Valley Hall North Central Illinois
bar:16 color:FullxF from:2013 till:end text:
bar:17 color:OtherC3 from:1975 till:2005 text:Monmouth Olympic
bar:17 color:OtherC3 from:2005 till:2016 text: Monmouth-Roseville Consolidate
bar:17 color:FullxF from:2016 till:end text:
bar:18 color:white from:1975 till:2018 text:Erie-Prophetstown
bar:18 color:FullxF from:2018 till:end text:
bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:1975 till:2011 text:Mendota North Central Illinois
bar:19 color:Full from:2011 till:2020 text:Big Northern
bar:19 color:FullxF from:2020 till:end text:
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1975
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos: tabs:
text:^"TRAC-8 Membership History"

> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

Competitive Success

The Three Rivers Conference has won 11 state championships in IHSA sponsored athletics and activities, 16 if wins by member schools participating in the Big Rivers Conference are counted.

State Champions

Boys Golf

Riverdale

Boys Track

Newman Central Catholic

Boys Cross Country

Newman Central Catholic

Girls Cross Country
Boys Football

Amboy
Bureau Valley *
Fulton
Fulton
Hall **
Hall **
Morrison *
Morrison *
Newman Central Catholic
Newman Central Catholic
Newman Central Catholic *
Newman Central Catholic *

* Participating in Big Rivers Conference
**Participating in NCIC
Boys Wrestling

Newman Central Catholic
Newman Central Catholic
Savanna
Savanna
Savanna
Savanna

Softball

Morrison
Rockridge