Richmond-Burton delivered a strong finish in the spring sports season to grab the Kishwaukee River Conference Cup for the second time in three years.
The KRC Cup is awarded to the conference’s best school in terms of athletics and some academic activities each year. The school finishing first in KRC standings is awarded eight points, with seven for second, and so on.
R-B and Woodstock were tied at 82 points after the fall and winter seasons. The Rockets had no finish lower than fourth place in the spring, with KRC titles in boys track and field and girls soccer, along with a runner-up in girls track and field, to finish with 121 points.
![Richmond-Burton Head Coach Mike Noll gives quarterback JT Groh a play during a Kishwaukee River Conference football game against Rochelle on Friday, Oct.20, 2023, at Richmond-Burton High School.](https://www.shawlocal.com/resizer/BtCmxg1jJwtqlCh5cCIQovFP0wE=/1440x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/IS376VDBIZCM5BD4DA6VF7LTXE.jpg)
Woodstock (114), Marengo (111) and defending champion Johnsburg (108) were next in line. R-B also had conference champions in football, volleyball, wrestling, scholastic bowl and math.
R-B, with an enrollment of 572, is the smallest KRC school, just behind Johnsburg (575) and Sandwich (579).
“We are very proud of all of our kids and coaches,” R-B athletic director Tim Jackson said. “Our teams had outstanding seasons across the board with first-place finishes in each season. This is a great honor that all of our kids and coaches can feel a part of. Even the teams that fell a bit short of their season goals contributed to this.
“With one of the smallest enrollments in the KRC, we have to rely on a lot of multi-sport athletes. Our coaches do a nice job of sharing athletes, getting kids to come out and try something new and having high expectations that allows for us to achieve success. Credit goes to the kids and coaches that work hard every day at practice and in the off-season.”
Woodstock won titles in boys and girls cross country and girls track and field and had runner-up finishes in volleyball, girls tennis, wrestling, match, boys and girls basketball and boys track and field.
This is the KRC’s first season with eight members. When it started, there were seven schools with Burlington Central, Harvard, Johnsburg, Marengo, Richmond-Burton, Woodstock and Woodstock North.
Burlington Central moved to the Fox Valley Conference in the 2019-20 school year. This year, Plano and Sandwich joined the KRC to bring the number to eight.
Kishwaukee River Conference Cup Standings
Place/School | Total | Fall | Winter | Spring |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. Richmond-Burton | 121 | 46 | 36 | 39 |
2. Woodstock | 114 | 46 | 36 | 32 |
3. Marengo | 111 | 39 | 43 | 29 |
4. Johnsburg | 108 | 35 | 49 | 24 |
5. Woodstock North | 95 | 34 | 26 | 35 |
6. Sandwich | 73 | 28 | 26 | 19 |
7. Plano | 71 | 26 | 25 | 20 |
8. Harvard | 53 | 12 | 28 | 13 |
Kishwaukee River Conference Cup Past Winners
School Year | Winning School |
---|---|
2023 | Johnsburg |
2022 | Richmond-Burton |
2021 | None awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic |
2020 | Marengo, Woodstock |
2019 | Burlington Central |
2018 | Burlington Central |
2017 | Burlington Central |