:quality(70):focal(850x451:860x461)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/4QAUK7WAOJFG7HDJOGZQ2R7WLI.png)
There’s a new leader in the clubhouse for the BCR Three Rivers Conference All-Sports Race.
Port Byron Riverdale High School, which has never won in the six years the award has been given, heads up this year’s All-Sports Race through the winter sports season.
The Rams teams have claimed Three Rivers Conference championships in boys cross country and boys golf and a TRAC West division title in girls basketball. The Rams also tied for second for TRAC West boys basketball and placed third in wrestling.
Riverdale holds a narrow 54-52.5 edge over second place Princeton with Sherrard, the two-time defending champion, third with 50 points.
Princeton has won Three Rivers East division championships in girls basketball and football with a three-way tie for second in volleyball.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/G5J47QAOEBEAVNGF6CWU6LGAFA.jpg)
Each school is awarded points for its sports finishes based on the number of teams in that sport. With the Three Rivers East division being short one team this school year with the departure of St. Bede, those schools have been given an extra point for their division finishes to even it out with their West counterparts.
Schools in the Three Rivers East this year are Bureau Valley, Hall, Kewanee, Mendota, Newman and Princeton.
Members on the Three Rivers West side are Riverdale along with Erie-Prophetstown, Monmouth-Roseville, Morrison, Orion, Rockridge and Sherrard.
This is the seventh year of the BCR’s Three Rivers All-Sports Race, with two years (2019-20/2020-21) lost to COVID-19.
Rockridge won the first championship in 2015-16 followed by a two-year run by Newman (2016-17, 2017-18) and Orion in 2018-19.
A look ahead
The Three Rivers will have a new look next year with the addition of a new member, and the loss of two schools.
Bureau Valley and Morrison will be leaving the Three Rivers with Aledo Mercer County coming in from the Lincoln Trail Conference, swapping places with the Storm. Morrison will join the NUIC.
Basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball divisions will be based on geography.
Erie-Prophetstown will shift to the Three Rivers East along side holdovers Hall, Kewanee, Mendota, Newman and Princeton.
Mercer County comes aboard in the Three Rivers with Monmouth-Roseville, Orion, Riverdale, Rockridge, and Sherrard
The divisions for football will be based on enrollment rather than geography.
The Big School Division will be made up of Kewanee (567), Princeton (515), Monmouth-Roseville (515), Mendota (507), Sherrard (423) and Hall (396), based on 2023-24 enrollment figures.
The Small School Division will consist of E-P (394), Mercer County (376), Rockridge (361), Newman (346.5 multiplied), Riverdale (321) and Orion (307).
The remaining sports - wrestling, golf, cross county, track and soccer - will continue as one combined conference.
A look back
The Three Rivers’ expansion over a decade ago pushed the conference from 10 members to 14. Kewanee joined the Big Rivers/Three Rivers Conference in 2010 and Hall followed in 2012. The Three Rivers went into full force with Princeton, Orion, Rockridge and Sherrard all joining in 2013. Monmouth-Roseville came on in 2017 from the West Central and Mendota followed in 2021 from the Big Northern.
The conference will have lost five members by the time the next school year rolls around, including charter members Amboy (2016), Fulton (2021) and Morrison (2024) along with St. Bede (2023) and Bureau Valley (2024).
Here’s the chart for the current BCR All-Sports Standings
| School | VB | FB | BG | GG | BXC | GXC | BS | BBB | GSB | WR | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverdale | 2.5 | 5 | 12 | X | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5.5 | 7 | 10 | 54 |
| Princeton | 5.5 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 52.5 |
| Sherrard | 4.5 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 6 | X | 5.5 | 5 | 5 | 50 |
| Newman | 7 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 6 | X | X | 4 | 2 | 11 | 45 |
| Rockridge | 2.5 | 7 | 4 | 7 | X | 3 | X | 7 | 3 | 7.5 | 41 |
| E-P | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 5 | X | 1 | 2 | 4 | 38 |
| Kewanee | 3.5 | 5 | 1 | X | X | X | 5 | 7 | 3.5 | 9 | 36 |
| Mendota | 3.5 | 2 | 10 | X | 4 | X | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2.5 | 34 |
| Orion | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | X | 1 | 1 | 3.5 | 1 | 12 | 33.5 |
| Mon-Rose | 4.5 | 5 | 5 | X | X | X | 6 | 2 | 6 | 2.5 | 31 |
| Bureau Valley | 5.5 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 3 | X | X | 3 | 4.5 | X | 29 |
| Hall | 2 | 3 | 9 | X | 1 | X | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 27 |
| Morrison | 1 | 6 | X | X | X | X | X | 3.5 | 4 | 7.5 | 22 |
* Notes: Three Rivers East schools were awarded an extra point in the four sports divided into divisional play to be equal to the Three Rivers West which has one more school. The conference/division champions in each sports are in bold.