Cook County High School League - Track and Field

Track and Field

Track and field was the third sport to garner interscholastic interest, with the earliest references dating back to December 1886. The first activities were intramural field days conducted by such schools as Evanston, Hyde Park, and North Division. These activities by the various schools built up to an interscholastic field day on June 8, 1889, for all the Cook County schools. No team champion was determined, but the following year a team championship was recognized, Lake View.

Clearly track and field established itself during 1889 to 1891 as an organized sport in which participating schools thought themselves members of a Cook County conference, paralleling similar developments in football and baseball. During the 1890s, Lake View, Hyde Park, and Englewood dominated competition.