Tri-County Conference Tribute
High School Athletics
Lacon, Illinois
Baseball
The second year of the conference, they established the baseball program. There were many great teams and players within the conference. McNabb Swaney took home the first baseball conference trophy in 1927 (1927-28 school year).
Baseball was first played as a fall sport. It was so popular, they established a summer program, too. The summer program was called the Tri County league, but included some teams outside of the school conference participating schools. In 1979, they established a tournament for conference play. Putnam County took home the first trophy for the baseball tournament. The tournament only lasted until the 1996-97 school year. Many times it became difficult to play all of the conference games and the tournament in the fall because of the weather. In 1999 (1999-2000 school year), they moved the conference to the spring season. This also aligned with the state series played in the spring.
Basketball
Boys basketball was the first conference sport to hold a tournament. It was held on January 26,27,28, and 29 1927. There were multiple sites for the first few rounds of the tournament. It was set up as a double elimination tournament with Lostant taking home the first trophy from the conference.
It had eight participating teams that first year. It included Granville (Hopkins), Hennepin, Lostant, Magnolia, McNabb Swaney, Sparland, Tonica, and Varna. Henry had a scheduling conflict that year, so Hennepin played for them in the tournament even though they were not in the conference.
Cross Country
Boys cross country was not adopted into the conference until 1966 (1966-67 school year). There is a one-day meet to establish the conference winner. That first year found Henry-Senachwine at the top for the conference first place trophy. Cross country is held in the fall season and has to “compete” with the other fall sports for athletes.
This has led to many “slim” teams throughout the years. Many co-op teams were formed to have enough athletes for teams. And much like the track teams in the spring, there were years where there weren’t enough teams for conference awards.
Golf
Boys golf was another sport added to the conference in the 1966-67 school year. It started as a spring sport, but was quickly (1974-75 school year) moved to the fall season. It is another fall sport competing for the athletes to fulfill their team rosters.
There is a one-day meet held for their “tournament”. Mid County came out in front for the first year with a possible tie with Lowpoint Washburn. (More information is needed to verify the results). At some point in time, they started to award conference winners, too. But we are in need of more information to verify this. With the addition of some larger schools to the conference, it has become much more competitive.
Track
Track was also established in the second year of the conference. It was held in the spring throughout the conference history. The conference meet was a one-day event held to determine the conference winners. Lostant was the school to bring home the first trophy in Track in the 1927-28 school year.
Because track involves individual activities as well as team activities, many schools had some fine athletes excel in this sport. However, many of the small schools ended up combining into a co-op program to be able to field a team. This allowed the athletes the opportunity to compete as individuals and also as a team for the team awards. Even with this practice, the conference still found itself short of teams. So, some years, team awards were not issued because of this lack of teams.
