School officials will recommend Chester High School join Cahokia Conference
Chester Unit District 139 administrators will recommend that Chester High School accept the invitation to join the Cahokia Conference, the superintendent announced Friday in a news release.
The decision is expected to be made by the school board on Thursday, June 18. If approved, the switch will be made in the 2022-23 school year.
Superintendent Brian Pasero said the District 139 administration took time to consider the invitation, "and the benefits of more localized competition than we currently have.
"Although we are thankful for the past 10 years as members of the Black Diamond Conference, we believe it is now in our students' best interest to join the Cahokia Conference," he added.
CHS Athletic Director Jeremy Blechle said officials want to be transparent about the potential move to the Cahokia Conference.
"We are willing to listen to suggestions and will take input from community members," he said. "People can contact me at the school if they have questions or want to provide input."
Blechle said the advantages of the Cahokia Conference are primarily less travel and more local teams to compete against.
"We now travel too far for many of our games (and) we must think about what is best for our student-athletes," Blechle said.
"Getting to play some of our more local teams will also be nice. Red Bud is just 30 minutes away and Sparta, if they decide to accept their invitation to join the Cahokia, is just 20 minutes away. Furthermore, we used to play these teams years ago and our fan base will be excited to get to face some of our former competitors."
The Cahokia Conference has made some proposals regarding the potential conference alignment, but nothing will be in stone until all of the invited teams have either accepted or refused their invitations. Chester, Sparta, Roxana, East Alton-Wood River and Okawville have all been invited to join the other 13 members of the Cahokia Conference. So far, Roxanna is the only school to definitely accept.
The Cahokia suggestion is for Chester, Carlyle, Sparta, Okawville, Red Bud and Trenton-Wesclin to compete in volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball and football (if everyone accepts). For cross country, golf and track & field, Dupo, Lebanon, Marissa-Coulterville, Steeleville, New Athens and Valmeyer would join Chester, Carlyle and Okawville in a small a division.
Chester Principal Missy Meyer said the proposed change in conference is "exciting stuff," but she had nothing to add to Pasero's news release.
"If and when the board decides to accept the invitation, I will probably have more to say," she added. "For now we are very busy dealing with all of our other major issues with the COVID crises."