East Suburban Catholic Conference

Last updated
East Suburban Catholic Conference
Conference IHSA
No. of teams9
RegionSuburbs of Chicago, Illinois
East Suburban Catholic Conference
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Locations of Current ESCC Schools

The East Suburban Catholic Conference (ESCC) is an athletic conference consisting of nine Catholic high schools in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois (though despite its name, two schools are located in the city itself). The conference became independent in 1974.

Contents

While originally only supporting competition in men's sports, the conference began supporting women's athletics in 1991. Today, there are eleven women's teams and ten men's teams.

Despite not being as old as other conferences, and not having any women's sports until relatively recent history, the teams in the conference have finished in the top four of Illinois High School Association (IHSA) sponsored state tournaments 76 times in nine different sports.

Current membership

SchoolTownTeam NameColorsIHSA Classes (2/3/4)Reference
Benet Academy Lisle Redwings   AA/3A/4A [1]
Carmel High School Mundelein Corsairs    AA/3A/4A [2]
Joliet Catholic Academy Joliet Hilltoppers/Angels 1    AA/2A/3A [3]
Marian Catholic High School Chicago Heights Spartans    AA/2A/3A [4]
Marist High School Chicago RedHawks   AA/3A/4A [5]
Nazareth Academy La Grange Park Roadrunners    AA/2A/3A [6]
Notre Dame College Prep Niles Dons    AA/3A/4A [7]
St. Patrick High School Chicago Shamrocks   AA/3A/4A [8]
St. Viator High School Arlington Heights Lions   AA/2A/3A [9]

Membership timeline

Beginning in 1960 as a portion of the Suburban Catholic Conference, the East Suburban Catholic Conference became independent in 1974 with competition in 11 boys, 13 girls and 13 coed sports and activities within the IHSA.

East Suburban Catholic Conference

Suburban Catholic Conference East Suburban Catholic Conference full members

Notre Dame and St. Patrick are all male institutions, and thus do not field women's teams. The rest of the schools are coed, and are represented in the ESCC by both their men's and women's teams. Marian Central Catholic High School joined at the end of 2013-2014 football season for all sports except football. Marian Central Catholic began competing in the ESCC for football in the 2014–2015 season.

Somewhat unusual by the standards of the metropolitan Chicago area, the conference is spread over a four county area. While most of the members are in Cook County. Joliet Catholic is in Will County to Chicago's southwest. Benet Academy is in DuPage County which is to the west of Chicago. Carmel is far to the north in Lake County. The distance between the furthest schools (Carmel and Marian Catholic) is approximately 66 miles (106.2 km).

History

The conference can trace its roots back to the founding of the Suburban Catholic Conference in 1960. Among the six founding members, only Joliet Catholic, Notre Dame, and Benet Academy (then known as St. Procopius) are currently ESCC members. Carmel joined in 1966.

In 1970, Joliet Catholic temporarily left, with four new schools joining: Marist, St. Joseph, St. Patrick, and St. Viator. With the conference now at 14, the conference divided into two divisions. The East Division included the four new schools, Carmel, Notre Dame, and Holy Cross High School. In 1971 St. Francis de Sales High School joined the East Division.

In 1974, the two divisions split forming the West Suburban Catholic Conference and the ESCC (in 1989, the West Suburban Catholic Conference would drop the "West" and return to using the original conference name). After one year, St. Joseph left to pursue one year as an independent school, and came back to replace St. Francis de Sales which left after the 1975–76 season. Joliet Catholic joined in 1982. The conference elected to expand in 1990 by adding Benet Academy and Marian Catholic.

As a result of the number of coed schools in the conference, the conference began sponsoring competition for women in 1991.

In 1996, for football only, the ESCC and Chicago Catholic League merged to form the Chicago Metro League. This relationship ended after the 2002 football season, with Holy Cross High School joining the Chicago Catholic League permanently for all sports, and Nazareth Academy joining the ESCC. [10]

In 2010, St. Joseph High School withdrew from the conference.

In 2022, Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock IL, withdrew from the conference. [11]

Sports sponsored

The conference sponsors competition for men and women in basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, track and field, and volleyball. Men's competition is sponsored in baseball, football, and wrestling, while competition for women is sponsored in softball. [12] With each sport, the conference recognizes "All-Conference" and "Scholar Athlete" performances. All of these sports have state tournaments sponsored by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA).

Top finishes

The following teams, while members of the ESCC, finished in the top four of their respective state tournaments sponsored by the IHSA.

Hall of Fame

Since 2006, the conference has recognized administrators, coaches, and former athletes for their excellence. Among the notable inductees: [14]

Notes

  1. Men's teams representing Joliet Catholic are stylized as the "Hilltoppers", while women's teams are stylized as the "Angels". This dates to the merger of the all–male Joliet Catholic High School (Hilltoppers) with the all–female St. Francis Academy (Angels) in 1990.

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References

  1. ↑ "Lisle (Benet Academy)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  2. ↑ "Mundelein (Carmel)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  3. ↑ "Joliet (Catholic Academy)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  4. ↑ "Chicago Heights (Marian)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  5. ↑ "Chicago (Marist)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  6. ↑ "LaGrange Park (Nazareth Academy)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  7. ↑ "Niles (Notre Dame)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  8. ↑ "Chicago (St. Patrick)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  9. ↑ "Chicago (St. Viator)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  10. ↑ "History of the SCC and ESCC". Archived from the original on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  11. ↑ Kucharski, Sandy (2022-01-26). "'The fit just wasn't there anymore': Marian Central to leave East Suburban Catholic Conference". The Woodstock Independent. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  12. ↑ List of sponsored sports
  13. ↑ 2008-09 IHSAboys golf champions; accessed 19 October 2008
  14. ↑ Hall of Fame
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