CCIW schools have accounted for 50 national championships in NCAA Division III competition, including 15 in men's cross country; six in men's basketball; six in men's outdoor track and field; five in football; four in men's indoor track and field; three in women's soccer; two in women's outdoor track and field, women's basketball, men's soccer, men’s golf, and men's volleyball; and one apiece in baseball and women's indoor track and field.
Elmhurst College won a pair of Division III women's volleyball championships (1983 and 1985), and North Central College won a women's basketball title (1983) before the conference began sponsorship of women's athletics in 1986–87.
North Central men's cross country won its 13th national title in program history during the fall of 2009, while the North Central men's indoor track and field team captured the 2010 national championship. The Cardinals made their clean sweep by winning the men's outdoor track and field title in the spring of 2010. In addition, the Illinois Wesleyan women's outdoor track and field team, as well as the baseball team, took home national titles, giving the CCIW five national championships during the 2009–10 season.
North Central defended its titles in men's indoor track and field and outdoor track and field in the spring of 2011 while the Cardinals won their second men's cross country title in three seasons in the fall of 2011 and their third-straight indoor track and field title in 2012. Illinois Wesleyan won the conference's second women's basketball national title in 2012.
In 2019 Illinois Wesleyan Men’s Golf won their first national championship. They followed that up with a second national championship in 2021 after a one year break due to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Coached by Jim Ott to both Championships and led by Drew Pershing and Ben Johnson in 2019 and Jimmy Morton, Andrew Abel and Rob Wuethrich in 2021.
North Central Football won the 2019 National Championship and, after the COVID year of 2020 in which no championship was held, finished second in the nation in 2021.
Carthage won consecutive men's volleyball titles in 2021 and 2022.
The CCIW sponsors 26 sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's bowling, men's and women's cross country, football, men's and women's golf, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's indoor track and field, men's and women's outdoor track and field, men's and women's volleyball, and men's and women's wrestling. The most recently added sports are men's volleyball, which started play in the 2020 season (2019–20 school year);[2] bowling, which started play in 2020–21;[3] and women's wrestling, added for the 2022–23 season.[4]
CCIW membership has experienced several changes since its inception. After Carthage left in 1952, Illinois College withdrew the following year (1953). Elmhurst and Wheaton withdrew following the 1959–60 academic year. Wheaton re-joined for all sports but football in 1967 (and for football in 1970). Elmhurst re-joined in the fall of 1967 for all sports but football (and for football in 1968). Carroll joined during the 1955 spring sports season (1954-55 academic season). Carthage returned in the fall of 1961, and North Park University entered the following fall (1962). Lake Forest dropped out at the end of the 1962–63 academic year. The last member to leave the CCIW was Carroll following the 1991–92 academic year. Carroll returned to the CCIW in 2016. In 2007, Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology, located in Terre Haute, Indiana, joined the CCIW as an associate member for men's and women's swimming.[5] After 2017, Rose–Hulman left as an associate member shortly before its full-time home of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) announced it would add swimming.[6]
The CCIW lost one affiliate member and gained two in 2020. Greenville University, which had moved its men's volleyball program from the single-sport Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League to the CCIW in 2019–20, downgraded the sport from varsity to club status after that school year.[7] With the addition of bowling, Lakeland University, a men's wrestling affiliate since 2016–17, added bowling to its CCIW membership, while Aurora University and Marian University became affiliates in that sport.[3] In 2022–23, Aurora and Lakeland added men's and women's wrestling to their CCIW memberships,[4] and Aurora also joined for men's wrestling.
1952 - Carthage left the CCI, effective after the 1951-52 academic year.
1963 - Illinois College left the CCI, effective after the 1952-53 academic year.
1955 - Carroll College of Wisconsin (now Carroll University) joined the CCI, effective in the 1995-56 academic year.
1960 - Elmhurst and Wheaton left the CCI, effective after the 1959-60 academic year.
1961 - Carthage re-joined back to the CCI, effective in the 1961-62 academic year.
1962 - North Park College (now North Park University) joined the CCI, effective in the 1962-63 academic year.
1963 - Lake Forest left the CCI, effective after the 1962-63 academic year.
1967 - The CCI has been rebranded as the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW), effective in the 1967-68 academic year.
1967 - Elmhurst and Wheaton re-joined back to the CCIW, effective in the 1967-68 academic year. Elmhurst later re-joined back for football for the 1968 fall season while Wheaton did the same for the 1970 fall season.
1992 - Carroll (Wisc.) left the CCIW to join the Midwest Conference (MWC), effective after the 1991-92 academic year.
2016 - Carroll (Wisc.) re-joined back to the CCIW, effective in the 2016-17 academic year.
2014 - The University of Dubuque joined the CCIW as an affiliate member for men's and women's lacrosse, effective in the 2015 spring season (2014-15 academic year).
Greenville University and Loras College joined the CCIW as affiliate members for men's volleyball, effective in the 2020 spring season (2019-20 academic year).
Dubuque left the CCIW as an affiliate member for women's lacrosse as the school announced that it would drop the sport, effective after the 2019 spring season (2018-19 academic year).
2020
Greenville left the CCIW as an affiliate member for men's volleyball as the school announced that it would drop the sport, effective after the 2020 spring season (2019-20 academic year).
Dubuque left the CCIW as an affiliate member for men's lacrosse to join the Midwest Lacrosse Conference (MLC), effective after the 2021 spring season (2020-21 academic year).
Transylvania University joined the CCIW as an affiliate member for men's lacrosse, effective in the 2022 spring season (2021-22 academic year).
2022 – Aurora added both men's and women's wrestling to its CCIW membership effective with the 2022–23 school year. Lakeland did the same for women's wrestling.
Member schools
Throughout its history, all CCIW members, whether full or affiliate, have been private schools.
^Current conference in former CCIW sport; does not necessarily match primary home conference affiliation.
^During its tenure while competing in CCIW men's volleyball, Greenville's primary home conference was the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC). However, it dropped the sport after the 2020 spring season (2019–20 school year).
^During their tenure while competing in CCIW women's lacrosse, Dubuque's primary home conference was the American Rivers Conference (ARC), which they still compete today for all of its other sports. However, it dropped the sport after the 2019 spring season (2018–19 school year).[13]
In 2015, men's and women's lacrosse were added as sanctioned sports by the CCIW. The CCIW announced the inclusion of men's volleyball for the 2020 season (2019–20 school year), with bowling (an NCAA sport for women only) added in 2020–21. Women's wrestling became the newest conference sport in 2022–23.
The CCIW sponsors championships in the following sports:
