The Lincoln Trail Conference is a high school

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

in western central

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fed ...

(IHSA). The conference comprises

public high school State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...

s with small enrollments in portions of

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Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada * H ...

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

, Knox,

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...

, Peoria, Rock Island, Stark, and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

counties.

Current membership

''Sources:IHSA Conferences and IHSA Member Schools Directory''

History

The Lincoln Trail Conference (LTC) was established in 1976. The eight charter members included Cambridge, Winola, and Alwood from the Corn Belt Conference; Alexis, Galva and ROVA from the Little 6 Conference; and Wethersfield and Toulon-LaFayette from the Blackhawk Conference. Wethersfield played an independent schedule that first season and its first full conference slate wasn't until 1977. In 1988 Viola-Winola closed and Joy-Westmer replaced them in 1989. In 1992 Toulon consolidated with Wyoming and became known as Stark County. Alexis left briefly in 1993 and Annawan and Princeville joined in 1995. In 1998 Alexis was back in along with newcomers Biggsville Union and Monmouth Warren. The league divided into two divisions with Cambridge, Galva, Wethersfield, ROWVA, Princeville and Stark County in the East, and Alexis, Annawan, Biggsville, Westmer, Warren and Alwood in the West. In 2004 Alexis and Monmouth Warren consolidated forming Alexis United, and Biggsville Union left the loop to coop with Stronghurst Southern and the division set up was dropped. In 2005 Oneida ROWVA and Woodhull-Alwood co-oped in football and Biggsville Union rejoined under the name of West Central having consolidated with Stronghurst Southern. Football was not a conference sport from 2006–2009. During that time the Lincoln Trail Conference was a component of the West Prairie Trail mega conference for football only. The components of the West Prairie Trail conference were the West Central Conference, Prairieland Conference and Lincoln Trail Conference. The Lincoln Trail may reform as a football conference moving forward with the following teams: Annawan/Wethersfield co-op, Cambridge/AlWood co-op, Galva/Williamsfield co-op, Mercer County, Stark County, Princeville, Sciota West Prairie, West Central, and the River Valley co-op (Henry, Low Point-Washburn, Midland) which is not a member for other sports. Prior to the advent of the Lincoln Trail Conference, the schools of the present day conference are known to have participated in several other conferences. During the life of the conference many changes have occurred, the following table and timeline summarize major events:

Timeline

* 1976 – Lincoln Trial Conference forms with initial members Alexis, AlWood, Cambridge, Galva, ROVA, Toulon-LaFayette, Wethersfield, and Winola * 1987 – ROVA consolidates with Wataga students attending Galesburg to become ROWVA * 1988 – Winola leaves * 1989 – Westmer joins * 1992 – Toulon-LaFayette consolidates with Wyoming to become Stark County * 1993 – Alexis leaves * 1995 – Annawan and Princeville join * 1997 – Divisional east and west format adopted for boys football * 1998 – Alexis returns, Union joins, and Warren joins * 2004 – Union leaves, Alexis consolidates with Warren to become United, divisional format dropped for boys football * 2005 – West Central joins * 2006 – Aledo joins and boys football leaves to participate in the West Prairie Trail mega conference * 2007 – Yorkwood consolidates into United * 2009 – Aledo and Westmer consolidate to become Mercer County * 2010 – Boys football returns * 2021- Abingdon-Avon and Knoxville join from

Prairieland Conference The Prairieland Conference is a high school conference in western central Illinois. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference comprises small public high schools with enrollme ...

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1150 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1976 till:2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:green id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a full member in a football coop id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Northwest 8 Conference id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the NWIC id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Mid Northern Conference id:OtherC3 value:rgb(0.253,0.63,0.146) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the SHARK Conference PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1976 till:1993 text:Alexis (1976-1993) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1993 till:1998 text:BiCounty (1993-98) bar:1 color:Full from:1998 till:2004 text:(1998-2004) bar:1 color:white from:2004 till:end text:Consolidated with Monmouth Warren to become Monmouth United bar:2 color:Full from:1976 till:2009 text:AlWood (1976-Present) bar:2 color:AssocOS from:2009 till:2022 text:Cambridge Coop known as Ridgewood (2009-22) bar:2 color:AssocF from:2022 till:end text:8-Man (2022-Present) bar:3 color:Full from:1976 till:2009 text:Cambridge (1976-Present) bar:3 color:AssocOS from:2009 till:2022 text:Alwood Coop (2009-22) bar:3 color:AssocF from:2022 till:end text:8-Man (2022-Present) bar:4 color:Full from:1976 till:2009 text:Galva (1976-Present) bar:4 color:AssocOS from:2009 till:2022 text:ROWVA/Willamsfield Coop (2009-22) bar:4 color:AssocF from:2022 till:end text:8-Man (2022-Present) bar:5 color:Full from:1976 till:1987 text:ROVA (1976-1987) bar:5 color:white from:1987 till:end text:Consolidated with Wataga to become ROWVA bar:6 color:Full from:1976 till:1992 text:Toulon-LaFayette (1976-1992) bar:6 color:white from:1992 till:end text:Consolidated with Wyoming to become Stark County bar:7 color:Full from:1976 till:2008 text:Wethersfield (1976-Present) bar:7 color:AssocOS from:2008 till:end text:Annawan Coop (2008-Present) bar:8 color:Full from:1976 till:1988 text:Winola (1976-1988) bar:8 color:white from:1988 till:end text:Consolidated with Sherrard bar:9 color:Full from:1987 till:2009 text:ROWVA (1987-2009) bar:9 color:AssocOS from:2009 till:2022 text:Galva/Willamsfield Coop (2009-22) bar:9 color:AssocF from:2022 till:end text:8-Man (2022-Present) bar:10 color:Full from:1989 till:2007 text:Westmer (1989-2009) bar:10 color:AssocOS from:2006 till:2009 text:Football Coop bar:10 color:white from:2010 till:end text:Consolidated with Aledo to become Mercer County bar:11 color:Full from:1992 till:end text:Stark County (1992-Present) bar:12 color:Full from:1995 till:2008 text:Annawan (1995-Present) bar:12 color:AssocOS from:2008 till:end text:Wethersfield Coop (2008-Present) bar:13 color:Full from:1995 till:end text:Princeville (1995-Present) bar:14 color:Full from:1998 till:2004 text:Warren (1998-2004) bar:14 color:white from:2004 till:end text:Consolidated with Alexis to become Monmouth United bar:15 color:Full from:1998 till:2004 text:Union (1998-2004) bar:15 color:OtherC1 from:2004 till:2005 bar:15 color:white from:2005 till:end text:Consolidated with Stronghurst Southern to become West Central bar:16 color:Full from:2004 till:end text:Monmouth United (2004-Present) bar:17 color:Full from:2005 till:2020 text:West Central (2005-Present) bar:17 color:AssocF from:2020 till:end text:8-Man (2020-Present) bar:18 color:AssocOS from:2006 till:2009 text:Aledo (2006-09) bar:18 color:white from:2010 till:end text:Consolidated with Westmer to become Mercer County bar:19 color:Full from:2009 till:end text:Mercer County (2009-Present) bar:20 color:AssocOS from:2010 till:2012 text:River Valley Coop (2010-12) bar:21 color:Full from:2010 till:2014 text:West Prairie (2010-2014) bar:22 color:Full from:2021 till:end text:Abingdon-Avon (2021-Present) bar:23 color:Full from:2021 till:end text:Knoxville (2021-Present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1976 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Lincoln Trail Membership History" #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

Competitive success

The Lincoln Trail Conference has won 3 team state championships and 1 individual championship in IHSA sponsored athletics and activities. Through the 2008–2009 season the conference has won Illinois state titles in: * Boys

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

(Wethersfield 2001–2002; United 2004–2005; Mercer County 2012–2013) * Girls Track and Field (West Central High School Theresa Brokaw Class A 1600 meter run 2006) Prior to the advent of the Lincoln Trail Conference, or before joining the conference several member schools won Illinois state championships, including: * Boys

(Aledo in the Olympic Conference 1998–1999, 2000–2001, 2002–2003) * Boys

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

(Aledo in the Olympic Conference 1984–1985) * Boys

Track & Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

(Bigssville 1898–1899, 1899–1900)

Cooperative arrangements

Due to the small enrollment, several Lincoln Trail Conference schools form cooperative arrangements. The current arrangements are shown below. Boys Baseball * AlWood and Cambridge * Annawan and Wethersfield * ROWVA and Williamsfield (non-Conference) Boys Basketball * AlWood and Cambridge * ROWVA and Williamsfield (non-Conference) Girls Basketball * AlWood and Cambridge Boys Cross Country * AlWood and Cambridge * Annawan and Wethersfield * Galva and ROWVA Girls Cross Country * AlWood and Cambridge * Annawan and Wethersfield * Galva and ROWVA Boys Football * AlWood and Cambridge * Annawan and Wethersfield * Galva, ROWVA, and Williamsfield (non-Conference) Girls Volleyball * AlWood and Cambridge Boys Golf * AlWood and Cambridge * Annawan and Wethersfield * Galva and ROWVA * West Central and West Prairie (non-Conference) Girls Golf * AlWood and Cambridge * Annawan and Wethersfield * Galva and ROWVA * West Central and West Prairie (non-Conference) Boys Track and Field * AlWood and Cambridge * Annawan and Wethersfield * ROWVA and Williamsfield (non-Conference) Girls Track and Field * AlWood and Cambridge * Annawan and Wethersfield * ROWVA and Williamsfield (non-Conference) Girls Softball * AlWood and Cambridge * Annawan and Wethersfield