The wrapping up of the Illinois High School Association football finals in Champaign this evening gives us the opportunity to recognize, formally, the schools whose championship teams this fall won a state title for the first time in any sport.
Prairie Ridge defeated Sacred Heart-Griffin in the 6A football title game. (NFHS)
The following teams won state titles this year in the given sports, marking the first team title in any sport for these schools.
West Prairie High School in Sciota won in girls’ volleyball, Class 1A
For a complete list of all state championships, compiled into a sortable, searchable table, see our SLICE project for IHSA state title winners. Our data, which comes directly from the IHSA, begins in 1892 and continues through the fall sports listed on this page.
We summarize below the teams that won IHSA state titles this fall, showing the number of times each team has won a title in that sport and the number of state championships the school has won in any IHSA sport or activity.
Sports and activities included in the counts
Girls’ Badminton
Boys’ Baseball
Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball
Bass Fishing
Boys’ and Girls’ Bowling
Chess
Competitive Cheerleading
Competitive Dance
Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country
Drama and Group Interpretation
Boys’ Football
Boys’ and Girls’ Golf
Boys’ and Girls’ Gymnastics
Journalism
Music Sweepstakes
Scholastic Bowl
Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer
Girls’ Softball
Speech Individual Events
Boys’ and Girls’ Swimming and Diving
Boys’ and Girls’ Tennis
Boys’ and Girls’ Track and Field
Boys’ and Girls’ Volleyball
Boys’ and Girls’ Water Polo
Boys’ Wrestling
Girls’ Combined Track & Field
Notes: The last event, girls’ combined track & field, incorporates scores from events for students with disabilities and was added recently. We include it because IHSA officials anticipate that the event will continue.
The debate events are excluded from the counts, and we never really explained our reason for excluding them.
The main reason is that the IHSA presents historical information about debate in a substantially different way on its website, since different formats for debate started in different years yet the association classifies this as one event. This has complicated our auditing process.
But, we’re experimenting this year with different approaches to present debate titles in a way that fits with our presentation style and readily informs readers, since this history goes all the way back to the 1940s and continues today with several very accomplished teams.
Boys’ cross country
Class
IHSA School Name
Titles in this sport
Total ISHA titles
1A
Elgin (Harvest Christian Academy)
1
1
2A
Mahomet (M.-Seymour)
1
12
3A
Naperville (Neuqua Valley)
3
11
Boys’ football
Class
IHSA School Name
Titles in this sport
Total IHSA titles
1A
Forreston
2
15
2A
Mackinaw (Deer Creek-M.)
1
3
3A
Elmhurst (IC Catholic)
3
6
4A
Rochester
6
12
5A
Peoria (H.S.)
1
9
6A
Crystal Lake (Prairie Ridge)
2
6
7A
East St. Louis (Sr.)
8
21
8A
Park Ridge (Maine South)
6
13
Boys’ golf
Class
IHSA School Name
Titles in this sport
Total IHSA titles
1A
Byron
3
9
2A
Normal (University)
10
29
3A
Hinsdale (Central)
8
99
Girls’ cross country
Class
IHSA School Name
Titles in this sport
Total IHSA titles
1A
St. Joseph (S.J.-Ogden)
3
10
2A
Belvidere (North)
1
4
3A
Naperville (North)
7
23
Girls’ golf
Class
IHSA School Name
Titles in this sport
Total IHSA titles
1A
Charleston
1
1
2A
Wheaton (W. Warrenville South)
1
25
Girls’ tennis
Class
IHSA School Name
Titles in this sport
Total IHSA titles
1A
Lisle (Benet Academy)
1
8
2A
Hinsdale (Central)
17
99
Girls’ volleyball
Class
IHSA School Name
Titles in this sport
Total IHSA titles
1A
Sciota (West Prairie)
1
1
2A
Eureka
1
8
3A
Chicago Heights (Marian)
1
4
4A
Chicago (Mother McAuley)
15
19
A small disclaimer: Sometimes schools change names. For example, IC Catholic in Elmhurst was formerly known in the IHSA databases as Immaculate Conception. We tried to catch as many of these as we could, but when, for example, Hinsdale Township changed its name to Hinsdale Central, the name of the state title team can’t be tracked automatically and has to be manually computed. Accuracy is very important to us, so if you notice an error here, let us know.
