Southwest Suburban Conference
Data
Established	2005
Members	15
Sports fielded	17 (14 boys', 14 girls')
Region	southern Chicagoland
Division	Red Division Blue Division

The Southwest Suburban Conference is an athletic and competitive activity conference consisting of public secondary

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.

The conference was formed in 2005 when most of these schools split off from the South Inter-Conference Association

SICA (high school sports)

The South Inter-Athletic Association Conference is a former conference on the south side of Chicago and the predecessor of the current South Suburban Conference, Southwest Suburban Conference, and Southland Athletic Conference. At one point it was the largest conference in Illinois. -Former...

 (SICA). The division resulted in a lawsuit claiming that schools that were majority white in population were abandoning the schools which were majority black. The lawsuit was eventually settled and paved the way for the conference to expand.

History

For 33 years prior to 2006, most of the public high schools in the south and southwest suburban Chicago area were a part of the South Inter-Conference Association (SICA) which by 2005 had reached a membership of 33 schools split into five divisions. The conference covered a large geographic area and sociological spectrum "from the Indiana border to Joliet, from impoverished Ford Heights to affluent Frankfort, from virtually all-black Hillcrest to almost all-white Lincoln-Way Central and from Joliet, enrollment 4,993, to 1,066- student Rich South" In 2004, the athletic directors voted 30–3, the principals' board of control voted 6–2, and the district superintendents voted 16–3 to approve a new conference realignment which was to take to take effect in 2006. The realignment had been pushed because of long travel times and a reduction of sports offerings at some schools. The realignment split the association into three roughly equal and geographically contiguous conferences, one of which, the southeast, contained most of the predominantly African–American schools (compared to one school in the remaining two conferences). It was from these schools that a majority of the votes against the realignment had come. Leaders from these schools demanded an investigation from the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, and petitioned the Illinois State Board of Education to investigate as to whether this action violated rules on equity.

In March 2005, ten schools announced that they were unilaterally leaving SICA to form a new conference, the Southwest Suburban Conference. These ten schools collectively were among the largest in student population. Shortly after the announcement, a board member from Lincoln-Way Community High School District

Lincoln-Way Community High School District

Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 was organized in 1951. The district serves the communities of New Lenox, Frankfort, Mokena, Manhattan, and small portions of Tinley Park and Orland Park. Four high schools comprise Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210: Lincoln-Way Central,...

, a district representing two of the schools leaving to form a new conference, was forced to resign after racially insensitive statements were left on a reporter's voice mail.

Shortly after this, eleven more schools split off to form the South Suburban Conference

South Suburban Conference (Illinois)

The South Suburban Conference is a high school athletic and activity conference which comprises fourteen schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois....

.

In April 2006, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the schools which had left claiming that "(an) apartheid-like realignment used public funds to regress to separate but equal". The suit was settled out of court with the three schools of Thornton Township High Schools District 205

Thornton Township High Schools District 205

Thornton Township High Schools District 205 is a consolidated high school district based in Harvey, Cook County, Illinois that serves much of Cook County's Thornton Township. The district is located due south of the city of Chicago; the township's northern border matches up with the southern border...

 joining the Southwest Suburban Conference, and the two schools of Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215

Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215

Thornton Fractional Township District 215, more commonly known as T.F. District 215, is composed of two high schools and the supplementary Center for Academics and Technology....

 joining the South Suburban Conference. The remaining six teams would remain known as SICA.

Member schools

School	Town	Team Name	Colors	IHSA Classes (2/3/4)The state series class which a school competes in not only depends on the school's student population, but on the sport or activity. Some activities divide schools into two classes, some into three, and others into four. The listing here is in the order of two class, three class, and four class. The more "A"s in a class, the larger the schools competing. For more information on this, see Illinois High School Association#State Series Format.Schools are not assigned a classification for football until they have qualified for the playoffs each year. A school's classification not only depends on their student population, but on the populations of the other schools who have qualified. Thus, some schools routinely move between classes. SWSC schools are routinely in the highest classes; 8A, 7A, or 6A.	Reference
Andrew High School Victor J. Andrew High School Victor J. Andrew High School, Andrew, or VJA, is a public four-year high school located in Tinley Park, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...	Tinley Park Tinley Park, Illinois Tinley Park is a village located primarily in Cook County, Illinois, United States with a small portion in Will County. The population was 48,401 at the 2000 census, and 58,322 in the 2007 census. It is one of the fastest growing suburbs south of Chicago...	Thunderbolt Thunderbolt A thunderbolt is a discharge of lightning accompanied by a loud thunderclap or its symbolic representation. In its original usage the word may also have been a description of meteors, or, as Plato suggested in Timaeus, of the consequences of a close approach between two planetary cosmic bodies,... s		AA/3A/4A
Bolingbrook High School Bolingbrook High School Bolingbrook High School or BHS is a public four-year high school located in Bolingbrook, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...	Bolingbrook Bolingbrook, Illinois Bolingbrook is a large village in Will and DuPage Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2010 US Census, the population is 73,366...	Raiders Raid (military) Raid, also known as depredation, is a military tactic or operational warfare mission which has a specific purpose and is not normally intended to capture and hold terrain, but instead finish with the raiding force quickly retreating to a previous defended position prior to the enemy forces being...		AA/3A/4A
Bradley-Bourbonnais High School	Bradley Bradley, Illinois Bradley is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,784 at the 2000 census, and 15,070 in 2009....	Boilermaker Boilermaker A boilermaker is a trained craftsman who produces steel fabrications from plates and sections. The name originated from craftsmen who would fabricate boilers, but they may work on projects as diverse as bridges to blast furnaces to the construction of mining equipment.-Boilermaking:Many... s		AA/3A/4A
Homewood-Flossmoor High School Homewood-Flossmoor High School Homewood-Flossmoor High School is a public high school in Flossmoor, Illinois, in the Chicago metropolitan area. The majority of HF students live in Flossmoor and nearby Homewood, but the school also serves areas of Olympia Fields, Chicago Heights, Glenwood, and Hazel Crest serving school...	Flossmoor Flossmoor, Illinois Flossmoor is a village in south suburban Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,464 at the 2010 census.The village is renowned for the quality and architectural variety of its housing stock, as well as its proximity to numerous country clubs. It prides itself on being a...	Viking Viking The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to... s		AA/3A/4A
Joliet Central High School Joliet Central High School Joliet Central High School is a public secondary school located in Joliet, Illinois. Central is part of Joliet Township High Schools, along with Joliet West and Joliet East . Prior to the opening of Joliet East and West, the school was called Joliet Township High School... Joliet Township is a school district which oversees students from Joliet Central High School Joliet Central High School Joliet Central High School is a public secondary school located in Joliet, Illinois. Central is part of Joliet Township High Schools, along with Joliet West and Joliet East . Prior to the opening of Joliet East and West, the school was called Joliet Township High School...  and Joliet West High School Joliet West High School Joliet West High School, along with Joliet Central, makes up district 204 Joliet Township High School district in Joliet, Illinois. West's mascot is the Tiger... .	Joliet Joliet, Illinois Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...	Steelmen/Steelwomen		AA/3A/4A
Joliet West High School Joliet West High School Joliet West High School, along with Joliet Central, makes up district 204 Joliet Township High School district in Joliet, Illinois. West's mascot is the Tiger... Joliet Township is a school district which oversees students from Joliet Central High School Joliet Central High School Joliet Central High School is a public secondary school located in Joliet, Illinois. Central is part of Joliet Township High Schools, along with Joliet West and Joliet East . Prior to the opening of Joliet East and West, the school was called Joliet Township High School...  and Joliet West High School Joliet West High School Joliet West High School, along with Joliet Central, makes up district 204 Joliet Township High School district in Joliet, Illinois. West's mascot is the Tiger... .	Joliet Joliet, Illinois Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...	Tigers Tiger The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...		AA/3A/4A
Lincoln-Way Central High School Lincoln-Way Central High School Lincoln Way Central High School or LWCHS, is a public four-year high school located approximately 3.5 miles south of Interstate 80 near the intersection of Schoolhouse Rd. and the Lincoln Highway in New Lenox, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...	New Lenox New Lenox, Illinois New Lenox is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The village population is estimated to be 24,938 as of 2006. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning forecasts New Lenox will have a population of 90,652 in 2030.-Geography:...	Knight Knight A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior.... s		AA/3A/4A
Lincoln-Way East High School	Frankfort Frankfort, Illinois Frankfort is a village in Will and Cook Counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,782 at the 2010 census. According to Forbes.com, in 2007 the village ranked as the 36th fastest growing suburb in the United States. - Previous spelling :...	Griffin Griffin The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle... s		AA/3A/4A
Lincoln-Way North High School Lincoln-Way North High School Lincoln-Way North High School or LWN, is a public four-year high school located approximately one mile south of Interstate 80 near the intersection of Harlem Avenue and Vollmer Road in Frankfort Square, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, in the United States...	Frankfort	Phoenix Phoenix (mythology) The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....		AA/3A/4A
Lincoln-Way West High School Lincoln-Way West High School Lincoln-Way West High School or LWW, is a public four-year high school located about 1.5 miles south of Lincoln Highway near the intersection of Gougar Rd and the Illinois Highway in New Lenox, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...	New Lenox	Warrior Warrior A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:... s		AA/2A/3A
Lockport Township High School Lockport Township High School Lockport Township High School is a public high school in Lockport, Illinois, United States. It also serves the communities of Homer Glen, Fairmont, parts of Crest Hill, and parts of Joliet. More than 3,800 students are enrolled in grades 9 through 12....	Lockport Lockport, Illinois Lockport is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States, that incorporated in 1853. Lockport is located in northeastern Illinois, 30 miles southwest of Chicago, and north of Joliet, at locks connecting Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with the Des Plaines River via the Lockport...	Porters Porter (carrier) A porter, also called a bearer, is a person who shifts objects for others.-Historical meaning:Human adaptability and flexibility early led to the use of humans for shifting gear...		AA/3A/4A
Sandburg High School Carl Sandburg High School Carl Sandburg High School, Sandburg, or CSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the intersection of La Grange Road and 131st Street in Orland Park, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Consolidated High School District 230, which also...	Orland Park Orland Park, Illinois Orland Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States; it also extends slightly into Will County. The population was 56,767 at the 2010 census. The office of the Assistant Village Manager, Ellen Baer, states that the Will County section of Orland Park is industrial while the Cook County...	Eagle Eagle Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in... s		AA/3A/4A
Stagg High School Amos Alonzo Stagg High School Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, Stagg, or AAS, is a public four-year high school located at the intersection of S. Roberts Rd. and W. 111th Street in Palos Hills, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Consolidated High School District 230, which also...	Palos Hills Palos Hills, Illinois Palos Hills is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a suburb of Chicago. The population was 17,665 at the 2000 census. It is the home of Moraine Valley Community College as well as Amos Alonzo Stagg High School.-Geography:...	Chargers Destrier The destrier is the best-known war horse of the medieval era. It carried knights in battles, tournaments, and jousts. It was described by contemporary sources as the Great Horse, due to its size and reputation....		AA/3A/4A
Thornridge High School Thornridge High School Thornridge High School is a public high school located in Dolton, Illinois. It was built as part of Thornton Township High Schools District 205. It is sometimes confused with the similar sounding schools in the same district: Thornton Township High School and Thornwood High...	Dolton Dolton, Illinois Dolton is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 25,614 at the 2000 census. Dolton is located just west of the expressway Interstate 94 and immediately south of the city limits of Chicago. Its most common ZIP code is 60419....	Falcon Falcon A falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.... s		AA/3A/4A
Thornton High School Thornton Township High School Thornton Township High School, often simply referred to as Thornton is a public high school founded in 1899. The school is located in Harvey, Illinois one of the south suburbs of the city of Chicago, Illinois. The school is one of three schools administered by Thornton Township High Schools...	Harvey Harvey, Illinois Harvey is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, near Chicago. The population was 30,000 at the 2000 census.Harvey is bordered by Dixmoor, Riverdale and Blue Island to the north, Posen and Markham to the west, South Holland, Phoenix, and Dolton to the east, and East Hazel Crest to the...	Wildcats Bobcat The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...		AA/3A/4A
Thornwood High School Thornwood High School Thornwood High School is a public high school located in South Holland, Illinois. It was built as part of Thornton Township High Schools District 205.-History:...	South Holland South Holland, Illinois South Holland is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States and serves as the seat of Thornton Township. The population was 22,147 at the 2000 census.-History:...	Thunderbirds Thunderbird (mythology) The Thunderbird is a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a "supernatural" bird of power and strength...		AA/3A/4A

Sports

The conference sponsors competition for young men and young women in basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, bowling

Bowling

Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

, cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, gymnastics

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, soccer, swimming & diving

Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

, tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, track & field, volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, water polo

Water polo

Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

. The conference also sponsors competition for young men in baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, football

High school football

High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

, and wrestling

Scholastic wrestling

Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...

; and for young women badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

, cheerleading

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

, and softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

.

State placers

Since 2005, the following teams have finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state tournaments:

• Badminton: 4th place (Andrew: 2007–08, 08–09); 3rd place (Andrew: 2005–06); 2nd place (Andrew: 2006–07; Lincoln-Way Central: 2007–08, 08–09)
• Basketball (boys): 4th place (Thornwood: 2005–06); 3rd place (Thornton: 2008–09)
• Basketball (girls): 2nd place (Bolingbrook: 2006–07, 07–08); State Champions (Bolingbrook: 2005–06, 08–09)
• Bowling (boys): 3rd place (Lincoln-Way East: 2006–07; Lincoln-Way Central: 2007–08); State Champions (Andrew: 2005–06)
• Cross Country (boys): 4th place (Sandburg: 2006–07)
• Cheerleading: 3rd place (Bradley-Bourbonnais: 2006–07; Sandburg: 07–08); 2nd place (Bradley-Bourbonnais: 2007–08, 08–09); State Champions (Sandburg: 2005–06, 08–09)
• Football: State Champions (Lincoln-Way Central: 1997); (Lincoln-Way East: 2005); (Lockport 2002, 2003)
• Gymnastics (boys): "State Champions" (Lincoln-Way Co-Op: 2011); 4th place (Lincoln-Way Co-Op: 2006–07); 2nd place (Lincoln-Way Co-Op: 2007–08)
• Gymnastics (girls): 2nd place (Sandburg: 2008–09)
• Golf (girls): 2nd place (Homewood-Flossmoor: 2008–09)
• Soccer (girls): 4th place (Lincoln-Way Central: 2006–07); 3rd place (Sandburg: 2008–09)
• Softball: State Champions (Lincoln-Way East: 2002); (Lincoln-Way Central: 2008)
• Track & Field (girls): 3rd place (Thornton: 2006–07)
• Volleyball (boys): 4th place (Lincoln-Way East: 2006–07)
• Water Polo (boys): 4th place (Sandburg: 2007–08); 2nd place (Sandburg: 2008–09)
• Wrestling: 3rd place (Lincoln-Way Central: 2007–08); State Champions (Sandburg 2005–06, 06–07)

External links

• Southwest Suburban Conference - Official site