New IHSA Policy Restricts Athletic Cooperative Teams From Earning State Series TEam Awards or Trophies

Under a new IHSA bylaw, Oswego SD 308’s co-op teams would be ineligible for IHSA State Series team awards and trophies. (photo credit / Colleen Olson)

The Illinois High School Association has passed a new bylaw that restricts high school cooperative athletic teams from earning State Series team awards or trophies. The bylaw applies to cooperative team schools with a combined enrollment of over 3,500 students and will take effect beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.

Oswego High School athletic director Dan Arntzen and Oswego East High School athletic director Steven Tracy recommended to the school board that each school continue cooperative programs as they currently operate, as opposed to separating them into individual programs at each school.

Arntzen said that the bylaw resulted from some IHSA athletic directors claiming that it was a competitive advantage to form these cooperative teams. Arntzen also noted that individual athletes can still earn awards or trophies at State Series competitions.

The new bylaw will affect six sports in SD 308, including girls and boys swim and dive, girls and boys lacrosse, girls gymnastics and girls golf. Arntzen said cooperative teams are formed when schools don’t have the individual numbers to form teams at each participating school.

Arntzen said a survey was sent out to the community, gathering responses from student-athletes, parents and coaches of the impacted teams. “The feedback was to stay as a co-op,” said Arntzen. “What this really tells us is that the community really values the fact that we’re having these programs, and these programs are successful together, even though we can’t win a state trophy.” The one exception was girls golf, who favored separating to form their own teams, but that they only had 11 athletes as of the Fall of 2025.

Arntzen said that limited facility access and resources could prevent co-op teams with good individual participation numbers from separating. He also mentioned concerns of potential Title IX implications due to the impact on female athletic programs.

“We hope that we are able to persuade the IHSA to pause for a year until we can rewrite or amend the bylaw,” said Arntzen. “In a worst-case scenario, this could be a one-year blip on the radar for us.”

The April 13 school board meeting can be viewed on the district’s YouTube channel.