It seems now that the CS8 will once again become the CS(X). Zach Kerker of Channel1450.com out of Springfield posted to Twitter earlier last night that “All indications are Normal UHigh to the CS8 is imminent.”

Normal U-High currently has an enrollment of 662, which would make it the smallest school in the CS8; however,  since it is the ISU laboratory school, there is a multiplier of 1.65, meaning that every student equals 1.65 students.

Normal University HS is currently in the Corn Belt Conference which consists of smaller town/medium sized high schools such as Pontiac, Chillicothe IVC, Mahomet-Seymour (until 2017-18), Bloomington Central Catholic, and Eureka. U-High is currently the largest member for the athletics.

U-High joining the Central State Eight Conference would bring the membership back to ten following the departure of one of the conference’s founding schools, Lincoln, to the Apollo Conference after the 2016-17 school year.

University High School’s athletic director, Wendy Smith,  stated:  “The decision to leave the Corn Belt was difficult on many levels…It is impossible to replace over 65 years of tradition, relationships and rivalries, but the landscape of the Corn Belt Conference is changing and the future is unclear.”

And it is truly unclear-

Back in 2002, Rochester and Herscher joined the Corn Belt. Later, in 2006, Eureka and Rantoul joined. Since, Rochester has left and joined the Central State Eight, Herscher and Rantoul have left as well to go to the Okaw Valley and the Interstate Eight Conferences, respectively. Eureka is also set to leave the Corn Belt for the Heart of Illinois Conference for the 2017-18, which puts the membership down to five. In order to gain an automatic berth into the IHSA football playoffs, conferences need to have six teams.

Pontiac High School athletic director, Gary Brunner, said of the move and the future of the Corn Belt prior to the announcement, “The No. 1 goal is to try to keep the Corn Belt intact, and I think the major player for that is probably U-High.”  

The U-High Pioneer athletic programs know the CS8 well. Earlier this year in the JHS Soccer Challenge Cup, the state-ranked Pioneers only defeated the Crimsons 1-0. In the 2013 IHSA football playoffs, the Pioneers defeated the Crimsons in the second round of the playoffs. Two years earlier, the Pioneers football team lost a close game  to Glenwood in the playoffs by a score of 27-20. In addition, the U-High girls’ basketball team lost narrowly to Rochester in the Super-Sectional game 40-39. The Lady Pioneers would finish 31-2.  

The addition of U-High to the CS8 will begin in the 2017-18 school year. It remains to be seen what will happen to the remaining members of the Corn Belt Conference. Obviously, since there are five members, there will not be an automatic team from the Corn Belt in the playoffs. The conference looks to be in danger of folding; it remains to be seen if the conference will disband or find someone else to fill the void.