The Kishwaukee River Conference (KRC) is an organization of eight high schools in northern
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
. These high schools are members of the
Illinois High School Association
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National F ...
.
History
On November 8, 2013, it was announced that
Woodstock
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
and
Woodstock North planned to leave the
Fox Valley Conference by 2015 and create a new conference. After rumors that members of the
Big Northern Conference's East Division might join this new conference, it was announced on November 19 that five BNC members - Burlington Central, Genoa-Kingston, Harvard, Johnsburg (which at the time was still in the
Fox Valley Conference but was joining the BNC as the start of the 2014–15 school year), Marengo, and Richmond-Burton were invited to join the new conference, creating a proposed 8-team conference. The next day, it was announced that the name for this new conference will be the Kishwaukee River Conference. In February 2014, it was reported that Harvard and Genoa-Kingston had decided to remain in the BNC, while Richmond-Burton and Johnsburg remained undecided; Harvard later announced that they would, in fact, leave the BNC for the KRC, with the first season of the KRC to be during the 2016–17 school year. In June 2014, Richmond-Burton and Johnsburg both voted to officially become charter members of the KRC in 2016.
On July 19, 2017, the KRC voted 5-1 to remove Burlington Central from the conference, effective following the 2018–19 school year. Burlington Central will join the
Fox Valley Conference starting in the 2019–20 school year.
In 2021, the KRC entered into a football partnership with the
Interstate Eight Conference
The Interstate Eight Conference (Interstate 8 or I–8) is an athletic conference of Illinois high schools that are members of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). The conference currently has six member schools throughout Northern Illi ...
. The partnership creates two divisions for football, one consisting of the 7 smallest schools across the two conferences and one consisting of the 7 largest schools. In the 2021–22 season, the "Blue" division will include Harvard, Johnsburg, Marengo, and Richmond-Burton, while the "White" division will include Woodstock and Woodstock North. The KRC will play its own conference schedule again in 2024.
In 2022, Sandwich High School and Plano High School pledged to join the Kishwaukee River Conference, starting in the 2023-24 season, leaving the Interstate 8.
Membership
The conference's current members, as of 2023–24:
Previous Members
Membership Timeline
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Colors = id:barcolor
id:line value:pink
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote)
id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:2016 till:2019 text:Central (2016–2019)
bar:2 color:Full from:2016 till:end text:Harvard (2016–present)
bar:3 color:Full from:2016 till:end text:Johnsburg (2016–present)
bar:4 color:Full from:2016 till:end text:Marengo (2016–present)
bar:5 color:Full from:2016 till:end text:Richmond-Burton (2016–present)
bar:6 color:Full from:2016 till:end text:Woodstock (2016–present)
bar:7 color:Full from:2016 till:end text:Woodstock North (2016–present)
bar:8 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:Plano (2023-present)
bar:9 color:Full from:2023 till:end text:Sandwich (2023–present)
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text:^KRC Membership History
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State championships
Three IHSA State Championships have been earned by members of the KRC.
Football
* Richmond-Burton
** 2019–20 4A
Competitive Cheerleading
* Johnsburg
** 2021–22 S
Softball
* Marengo
** 2016–17 3A
Notes
References
External links
Illinois High School Association, Official Site
{{Illinois High School Association
High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States
Illinois high school sports conferences
High school sports in Illinois