New track getting closer to completion

When students returned to school this fall, something miraculous was happening–the long-awaited new track and field project was in full swing, with construction crews working long days to bring the plan to fruition by the end of October.

According to an article in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, the $4.11 million project has “been in the works for nearly a decade,” until it was “green-lit [by the] Amherst Regional School Committee this past February.”

This process to appeal for a new track and secure funding began before Athletic Director Victoria Dawson began her tenure in that job in 2019. Answering the question of whether the center field would be made of turf or grass involved months of heated debate. 

Ultimately, the environmental concerns of using turf led to the decision to select grass. Dawson said she “would have preferred turf [due to its reliability],” but she is thrilled to have the project well underway. The old track was completed in 1999, but has been in “terrible shape” for many years, she said. 

The new track design includes an eight-lane track and an interior grass field inside the lap track, and a field to the west, as well. Though it will be mostly complete in October, it won’t be fully usable until the spring. The ARHS track and field teams have traveled for “every outdoor track meet since 2018,” according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

Waiting has definitely “caused difficulties for this year’s fall sports,” she said. The boys’ soccer team has been holding games on an area called the “snake pit,” rather than their normal field to the right of the track, and physical education classes usually use the track, but they have been using grass outside the main office and sometimes the community field.

The athletes on deck to use the field are excited to have a top-notch playing field this spring. Junior Ololara Baptiste does 200 and 400 yard events and said that she is so excited to finally have a new track to host events. 

“The track before was terrible,” Baptiste said, recalling moments when the members of the team jumped over the potholes as they ran for practice. It was an inside joke for the team, but it eventually brought them closer together. 

Baptiste said she hopes the new track will bring more students from school to cheer on the team, reviving the student section. She is also happy that family members can more regularly watch the team’s meets without having to drive so far, since ARHS can finally host events. The new orientation of the track is also designed to avoid glare from the sun affecting the runners. 

“I am genuinely so excited,” Baptiste said. She also said she could not wait for last year’s seniors to come back, to “watch the rest of the team run on the new track they have all waited years for.”