Central Suburban League


The Central Suburban League is an IHSA-recognized high school extracurricular conference comprising 12 public schools located in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago. Comprising 12 relatively large high schools, it is among the larger high school conferences in Illinois.

Schools

Former schools

While the divisions' names are geographic, their makeup is not based on a school's location. The North Division includes the schools with the smaller enrollments while the South Division includes the schools with the larger enrollments. Every two years the member school's official enrollment is used to determine division alignment.
North DivisionSouth Division
DeerfieldEvanston
Maine WestGlenbrook South
Highland ParkMaine South
Maine EastNew Trier
Niles NorthNiles West
Vernon HillsGlenbrook North

Not all activities and sports make use of the division alignment. In chess, teams compete as a part of the North Suburban Chess League which comprises schools from many conferences. Scholastic Bowl plays as a single twelve team league.
Niles North moved to the CSL South for the 2016-'17 season after former South Division school Waukegan was replaced with Vernon Hills. Vernon Hills, which had the smallest enrollment in the conference at that point, was placed in the North Division.
For the 2019-2020 season, Glenbrook North and Niles North will swap divisions because of a division realignment.

History

The CSL traces its history back to the founding of the Suburban League in 1913, of which Evanston and New Trier were both founding members. The league had somewhat fluid membership over several decades. As the population of suburban Chicago grew schools began leaving to join newer conferences such as the West Suburban Conference, the Northwest Suburban, and the South Suburban League. With more schools leaving, the Central Suburban League was founded in 1965, the last major conference to be carved from the old Suburban League. The last remaining bastion of the Suburban League started joining these other leagues, and finally folded after the 1974–1975 school year.
As of the end of the 2007–08 school year, the past and present schools of the CSL have won 233 state titles in various IHSA sports and activities. They have finished in second place 261 times. Nearly half of these have been won by New Trier. Evanston adds 47 state titles and 49 runner-up prizes. The league has remained stable since Niles North returned to the league in 1991.
During Winter 2016, the CSL Athletic Directors voted 7-5 for a division realignment system. The system incorporates enrollment and athletic success in determining division placement. Every three years, points are tallied and the top six teams are placed in the South Division, while the other six are in the North Division. Before 2016, divisions were determined only by enrollment. Glenbrook North and Niles North will be the first schools to swap divisions in the 2019-2020 season.

Timeline


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:750 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1965 till:2021
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:0 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:Black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Deerfield
bar:2 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Glenbrook North
bar:3 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Glenbrook South
bar:4 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Maine South
bar:5 color:yellow from:1965 till:1979 text:Niles North
bar:5 color:yellow from:1991 till:end text:
bar:6 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Niles West
bar:7 color:yellow from:1967 till:end text:Maine West
bar:8 color:yellow from:1967 till:1981 text:New Trier West
bar:9 color:yellow from:1971 till:1974 text:Maine North
bar:10 color:yellow from:1972 till:end text:Highland Park
bar:11 color:yellow from:1972 till:1980 text:Niles East
bar:12 color:yellow from:1972 till:end text:Maine East
bar:13 color:yellow from:1975 till:end text:Evanston
bar:14 color:yellow from:1975 till:1981 text:New Trier East
bar:15 color:yellow from:1975 till:1990 text:Waukegan East
bar:16 color:yellow from:1975 till:1990 text:Waukegan West
bar:17 color:yellow from:1981 till:end text:New Trier
bar:18 color:yellow from:1990 till:2016 text:Waukegan
bar:19 color:yellow from:2016 shift: till:end text:Vernon Hills
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1965
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:Black
pos: # tabs:
text:"Central Suburban League Membership History 1965-present"

Notable athletes in the league (since 1965)