Conference | IHSA |
---|---|
No. of teams | 9 |
Region | Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois |
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.
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.
School | Town | Team Name | Colors | IHSA 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] |
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.
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).
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]
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).
The following teams, while members of the ESCC, finished in the top four of their respective state tournaments sponsored by the IHSA.
Since 2006, the conference has recognized administrators, coaches, and former athletes for their excellence. Among the notable inductees: [14]
Benet Academy is a co-educational, college-preparatory, Benedictine high school in Lisle, Illinois, United States, overseen by the Diocese of Joliet. Founded in 1886, the school was initially established in Chicago as the all-boys St. Procopius College and Academy by Benedictine monks, who also operated the St. Joseph Bohemian Orphanage. In 1898, the orphanage moved to Lisle, about 25 miles (40 km) west of Chicago, to be joined by St. Procopius three years later. In 1926, Benedictine nuns constructed the all-girls Sacred Heart Academy near the orphanage and school in Lisle. The orphanage closed in 1956 to make room for St. Procopius Academy, which separated from the college in 1969. Due to rising costs and waning enrollment, Sacred Heart merged with St. Procopius Academy in 1967 to form Benet Academy on the St. Procopius campus. Since then, numerous building projects have been undertaken to expand Benet's athletics, music, and science programs.
Carmel Catholic High School is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic high school run jointly by the priests and brothers of the Order of Carmelites and the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Located in Mundelein, Illinois, Carmel serves all of Lake County, as well as some of the surrounding counties, and southern Wisconsin. An institution of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, Carmel Catholic is one of three Carmelite-run high schools in the Chicago area, the others being Joliet Catholic High School and Mount Carmel High School.
Mount Carmel High School is an all-boys, Catholic high school in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, the school has been operated by the Carmelite order of priests and brothers since 1900. Several priests and brothers who teach at the school live in the nearby Saint Cyril Priory, though most of the staff consists of lay teachers.
Driscoll Catholic High School was a private college preparatory high school in the village of Addison, Illinois. It had been accredited by the State of Illinois and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
Joliet Catholic Academy is a coed Catholic high school in Joliet, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet. One of the oldest Catholic high schools in the Chicago area, Joliet Catholic is perhaps best known for its prowess in football. Since the advent of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) state football playoffs in 1974, JCA is tied for most State Championships with 15.
Saint Viator High School is a private Catholic co-educational secondary school run by the Clerics of Saint Viator in Arlington Heights, Illinois. It was founded by Father Louis Querbes and opened in 1961 to serve as a college-preparatory school for students from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, which is part of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Marian Catholic High School is a co-educational secondary school in Chicago Heights, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.
Providence Catholic High School is a Roman Catholic secondary school located in New Lenox, Illinois. Located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet, Providence Catholic is a private school run by the Order of Saint Augustine and is a member of the Augustinian Secondary Education Association..
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Notre Dame College Preparatory is a male-only Roman Catholic secondary school founded in Niles, Illinois in 1955 by the Congregation of Holy Cross. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.The school was built by Belli & Belli of Chicago.
St. Patrick High School is an all-boys college preparatory Catholic high school located in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago, Illinois. Opened in 1861, it is among the oldest continuously open high schools in the Chicago area.
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Bishop McNamara High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Kankakee, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet in Illinois.
Triad High School is a high school located in Troy, Illinois. Triad serves the communities of Troy, St. Jacob, and Marine, Illinois, and small portions of Collinsville, Maryville, Glen Carbon, Edwardsville and Highland. The school district has a total area of 121.5 square miles (315 km2). The majority of Triad High School students live in Troy, Illinois, a town 18 miles (29 km) northeast of St. Louis, Missouri.
St. Viator College was a Catholic liberal arts college in Bourbonnais, Illinois. It is no longer in operation. Today, the site is home to Olivet Nazarene University.
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