Northern Illinois Conference (athletic conference)

The Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10) is a high school athletic conference consisting of nine high public schools and one Catholic school in Illinois' Boone, Stephenson, and Winnebago Counties. Member schools are also full members of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), and are among the larger schools in that area, all competing in Class AA (in the two class system) of IHSA competitions.

Members

* Depending on the sport/activity, schools compete in a two class, three class, or four class system. The classes are listed in that order in this table.

History

The conference was originally founded as the Big 7 in 1919 and included Freeport High School, Rockford Central High School, Joliet High School, Elgin High School, DeKalb High School, Aurora East High School, and Aurora West High School. DeKalb left the conference in 1929, and was replaced by LaSalle-Peru High School. In the spring of 1940, Rockford High School closed with the opening of Rockford West and Rockford East high schools in the fall of 1940 (and the conference naturally became the Big 8). In 1960, Joliet High School left and quickly was replaced by the newly constructed Rockford Auburn High School. In 1963, Aurora East, Aurora West, and Elgin high schools departed, and were immediately replaced by Harlem High School, Belvidere High School, and the newly opened Rockford Guilford High School. 1964 saw LaSalle-Peru leave after being a member of the conference for 35 years and Boylan Central Catholic High School join. The addition of Rockford Jefferson High School in 1971 forced the conference to change their name to the Big 9.

In 1982, Hononegah High School joined the conference, and, to avoid the obvious confusion with the collegiate conference, The Big Ten, the conference was renamed the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10). For 7 years the conference remained status quo, however, when Rockford West High School was closed after the 1988–89 school year, the conference became the NIC-9. It once again returned to the NIC-10 when Belvidere North High School opened in 2007. Currently, Freeport High School remains the only original member of the conference and will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2019.^[23]

Membership timeline

Full members Various Conferences/Independent Other Conference Upstate 8 Conference Other Conference

State championships

57 IHSA State Championships have been earned by the conference membership:

• Basketball (boys)-8: Joliet Township (1936–37); Elgin (1923–24, 24–25); Rockford High School (1938–39); Rockford West (1954–55, 55–56); Freeport (1925–26, 50–51)^[24]
• Bowling (boys)-5: Jefferson (2002–03); Freeport (2007–08); Guilford (2010-11); Guilford (2013-14); Rockton (Hononegah) (2014-15)^[25]
• Bowling (girls)-7: Jefferson (2007–08); Harlem (1999–2000, 00–01, 01–02, 04–05, 10-11); Rockford East (1996–97)^[26]
• Chess-3: Jefferson (1990–91); Auburn (1991–92, 92–93)^[27]
• Cross Country (boys)-2: Belvidere North (2009–10, 10-11)^[28]
• Cross Country (girls)-1: Guilford (1981–82)^[29]
• Field Hockey (girls)-1: Rockford West (1975–76)^[30]
• Football-7: Belvidere (1993–94, 94–95); Rockford East (1974–75, 85–86); Guilford (1982–83); Boylan (2010-11, 2011-12)^[31]
• Golf (boys)-12: Rockford East (1941–42, 42–43, 43–44, 44–45, 46–47, 56–57); Rockford West (1940–41); Guilford (1974–75, 75–76, 83–84, 85–86); Boylan (2002-03)^[32]
• Golf (girls)-1: Guilford (1994–95)^[33]
• Journalism-1: Jefferson (2006-07)^[34]
• Scholastic Bowl-2: Auburn (2007–08, 2014-15)^[35]
• Soccer (boys)-1: Boylan (2010-11)
• Softball-2: Harlem (1979–80, 98–99)^[36]
• Swimming & Diving (boys)-1: Rockford High School (1932–33)^[37]
• Track & Field (boys)-3: Rockford High School (1926–27, 32–33, 34–35)^[38]

References