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Contact: James Vinson, Sports Information Director - Illinois College, james.vinson@ic.edu
JACKSONVILLE, Illinois — When athletics started on the Illinois College campus in the 1870s, intercollegiate competition was unknown and most of the athletic events were purely recreational.
Baseball was the first sport to gain popularity at IC. The College’s first game against another school took place in 1878, when a group of student-athletes traveled to face Shurtleff College in Alton, Illinois. Rain ended the game after the end of the first inning with the score tied at one run apiece.
The first game on campus was in 1879, when Illinois College was defeated by Knox College with a final score of 20-13. In the years that followed, more sports would gain the attention of the College’s student body. Track and field became more relevant in the 1880s and 1890s, and tennis became a popular sport when it first began to be played on campus in 1883. The first official tennis tournament was held in 1889. Soon after, the first football team was formed in 1890.
PAST CONFERENCE HISTORY
As athletics continued to develop on campus, Illinois College sought membership in an athletic conference for the first time and joined the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1908. This conference was also known as the “Little Nineteen.” After a period of time, Illinois College decided to leave the “Little Nineteen” to join the Illinois College Conference for a short stint, from 1938 to 1946.
The College then joined the College Conference of Illinois in 1946. This conference was formed in Jacksonville on April 26, 1946. In 1967, the name was changed to what we know it as today, the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, or CCIW.
Illinois College withdrew from the CCIW in 1952 to join the Prairie College Conference. IC stayed in the Prairie College Conference until 1980, when it joined the Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1980, now known as the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, or SCAC.
While in the SCAC, the College would compete against teams spread out across a large region. With more travel and longer stays for conference competitions, Illinois College eventually left the SCAC for a conference that was closer to home. IC joined the Midwest Conference in 1982.
SUCCESS IN THE MWC
Illinois College found a perfect fit with the MWC and, over the years, IC teams have had many successes. The Blueboys and Lady Blues have recorded a total of 20 Midwest Conference Championships and have had more than 900 student-athletes receive All-MWC honors across all sports programs.
Baseball was the first IC team to win a Midwest Conference championship in 1984 and the Blueboys baseball team took home another MWC championship in 1995.
Other teams and student-athletes would also achieve the status of MWC champion in the years to come. Programs such as men’s and women’s golf, women’s volleyball, and wrestling earned multiple MWC championships and punched their tickets to NCAA tournaments.
The Lady Blues women’s golf program had one of the most dominant stretches in IC’s history with the MWC. They put together a streak of six MWC championships from 2003 to 2008. That team was led by Carey Cappel who won the individual MWC title four years straight, from 2003 to 2006.
The Blueboys men’s soccer program won their only MWC championship in 1990 after defeating St. Norbert 1-0. The game was decided by penalty kicks with the Blueboys coming out on top.
Women’s basketball would earn their first MWC championship in the 1992-1993 season, defeating Lawrence University with a final score of 70-64 in a thrilling overtime finish.
The Blueboys men’s basketball team recorded their first MWC championship in the 2002-2003 season. The team defeated Grinnell College in the championship game with a final score of 101-91.
After nearly 40 years of conference achievements and successes, Illinois College teams will continue to chase excellence in the Midwest Conference.