Games canceled by rain, injured athletes, and the inability to host top sporting events are struggles that Sam Momary Stadium is used to. To counter this and provide new life to the stadium, the school unveiled a plan last year to renovate the track and the football field.

The renovated stadium will include a new turf field along with a rubber track and scoreboard. The target date for the end of the project is Jan. 22, 2023. The school is hoping to raise 1.2 million dollars for the project and is currently at around 300k; if you wish to donate visit the site here. 

Jeff Driskel, graduating class of 2011 and current NFL quarterback for the last 6 years, recorded a video in support of the project and talked about how important it is for student athletes to have the best surfaces to play on.

The introduction of a turf field for the football program changes a lot of how they will approach practices and games. 

“It’s [going to] give us a consistent practice and playing surface that we can use, not just on Friday nights but all during the week [too],” varsity football coach Steven Mikles said. “All of our practices will be held on the turf, which would also allow us to easily film all of our practices.”

The difference between a turf field and a natural grass field at first glance does not seem that apparent, but there are plenty of benefits with a turf field. Turf fields take a less amount of money to take care of and for players, it allows for a more stable playing ground compared to natural grass, which has the chance of having holes.

The cancellation of games due to the field being flooded would also become a thing of the past with the new field. This would not only benefit the football team, but also the band, color and winter guard, impacting more than just sports.

“The turf field would hold water, but in the worst case, it would probably drain in 30 minutes,” Mikles said. “It would get rid of cancellations; it may be delayed a little bit but cancellations won’t happen.”

The other half of the project, the rubber track, is going to be a massive upgrade for the school. Since the school’s opening, there has only been a concrete track which was the best option for the time. This would quickly become outdated with rubber tracks becoming the standard through the nation.

“I’m surprised at this community. You know, I come from a small town of 6000. In the last 18 years they’ve got three new surfaces, and it’s a school of 600. So I’m kind of puzzled.” track coach Matthew Malkovich said. “It’s unfortunate how many many great athletes are going to go to the school that didn’t get an opportunity to train on a proper facility.”

A concrete track puts more force on the joints of runners, which ends up causing more injuries. The rubber track will not only provide a softer surface for runners, but allow runners to wear spikes instead of flats, their preferred type of shoe. 

“We can’t say get in blocks because we can’t set blocks up here without them sliding through the concrete,” junior David Erdmann-Dunlapp said. “We can’t do anything really right now. It’s an odd scenario.” 

Runners have not been able to properly train on a rubber track, which has put them at a disadvantage at every meet in previous years.

“Training for track season, you can’t get the same experience on anything but on a rubber track. We train spikes on grass and that still doesn’t get the same effect because you can’t get the same grip, the same stance, the same anything.” Dunlap said.

This also allows the school to host track meets, which was previously impossible with an asphalt track. The crowd can be a huge factor in running and now being able to run at home introduces that.

The renovation is a big step forward for both programs and for the school to start modernizing what hasn’t been touched since the school’s opening.

“You wouldn’t ask a football team to practice tackling on a road. You wouldn’t ask a baseball team to practice on gravel. That’s the equivalent to this,” Malkovich said. “We’ve been an afterthought for 18 years and finally got a principal and an athletic director that’s getting to lead the charge. I’m excited about it.”

Gallery | 3 Photos

photo by Brayden Bohren

The student section cheers on the footballteam in a 45-7 blowout win against East River. Delays and cancelations have been prevalent earlier in the season which will be rare with the turf field.