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After two years idle during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau County Republican’s Three Rivers Conference All-Sports race returns with a roar.
The roar of the Sherrard Tigers.
Sherrard won the Three Rivers All-Sports championship for the first time, topping fellow Tigers of Princeton, 98-88.5. The Sherrard Tigers won conference championships in four sports - girls cross country, volleyball, girls basketball and girls track.
“This is a great accomplishment. It shows what great all-round student-athletes we have at Sherrard. Most of our student-athletes are competing in two or threee sports and winning the TRAC All-Sports Championship shows that they can compete in those two or three sports at a high level.”
— Doug Swanson, Sherrard girls basketball coach
Doug Swanson, whose Sherrard girls basketball team won the regional championship at Princeton, said winning the TRAC All-Sports championship is a great accomplishment.
“It shows what great all-round student-athletes we have at Sherrard,” Swanson said. “Most of our student-athletes are competing in two or three sports and winning the TRAC All-Sports Championship shows that they can compete in those two or three sports at a high level.”
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Sherrard, which finished fourth in the last Three Rivers All-Sports championship in 2018-19, the last year the winner was crowned, was the only school to field a team in all 14 sports.
Princeton’s runner-up finish is its best since placing fourth in 2016-17. The Tigers won their first girls basketball championship in school history. The Tiger football team shared the conference title while PHS had runner-up finishes in volleyball, boys basketball, boys track, girls track, baseball and softball.
Rounding out the top five in the 2021-22 Three Rivers All-Sports championship are Rockridge (81.5), Riverdale (80) and Erie-Prophetstown (73).
Among the other area schools, Kewanee was eighth (64), St. Bede ninth (59.5), Mendota 11th (43.5), Bureau Valley 12th (40.5) and Hall 13th (39).
The Three Rivers welcomed Mendota into the conference this year and Monmouth-Roseville came in for all sports having already played football. Monmouth-Roseville replaced Fulton, which left the Three Rivers for the NUIC, in the West Division with Mendota joining the East side to make two, seven-team divisions.
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There were 14 varsity sports offered in 2021-22 for the first time with the introduction of boys soccer with seven teams competing. There are not enough girls soccer teams to make up a conference format.
Not all schools competed in each sport with only football, volleyball, boys golf, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls track, baseball and softball fielding full lineups.
Each school was awarded points for its sports finishes based on the number of teams. Most of the sports were split by division, rewarding a first-place finish seven points, a second-place finish six points, etc. A first-place finish in sports with a full conference netted 14 points, etc.
Rockridge won the first Three Rivers All-Sports championship in 2015-16. Newman claimed back-to-back titles in 2016-17 and 2017-18 followed by Orion in 2018-19.
Three Rivers All-Sports Standings
| Schools | BS | GC | BC | VB | FB | GG | BG | GB | BB | WR | GT | BT | SB | BB | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sherrard | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 98 |
| Princeton | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6.5 | X | 7 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 88.5 |
| Rockridge | x | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 6.5 | 13 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 81.5 |
| Riverdale | 3 | X | 11 | 3 | 2 | X | 14 | 3 | 6.5 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 4 | 6.5 | 80 |
| E-P | X | 5 | 9 | 3 | 7 | X | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 73 |
| Newman | X | X | 10 | 7 | 4.5 | X | 9.5 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 4.5 | 67.5 |
| Mon-Rose | 5 | X | 3 | 5 | 6 | X | 5.5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 64.5 |
| Kewanee | 1 | X | 6 | 2 | 6.5 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 4.5 | 64 |
| St. Bede | X | 3 | X | 3 | 4.5 | 4 | 9.5 | 6 | 2.5 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 59.5 |
| Orion | 6 | X | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 6.5 | 46.5 |
| Mendota | 7 | X | 7 | 5 | 3 | X | 8 | 2 | 2.5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 43.5 |
| Bureau Valley | X | 1 | 5 | 4 | 2 | X | 5.5 | 3 | 4 | X | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 40.5 |
| Hall | 4 | X | X | 1 | 1 | X | 12 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 39 |
| Morrison | X | X | X | 1 | 3 | X | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 30 |
BCR’s Three Rivers All-Sports championship Honor Roll
2021-22 - Sherrard
2020-21 - None (COVID-19)
2019-20 - None (COVID-19)
2018-19 - Orion
2017-18 - Newman
2016-17 - Newman
2015-16 - Rockridge