Over the last couple of years, many of Hopkins' sports facilities have received a much-needed face-lift with various improvements made to the fencing room, varsity weight room, and Homewood Field, but at least one glaring insufficiency remains: the track team has no designated track.
Through the generosity of donors and money raised through the Blue Jays Unlimited sector of the development office, an estimated $2.12 million have been designated for improvements to sports facilities since 2004, but only now has Athletic Director Tom Calder projected that the track should be completed by 2008.
Approximately two years ago, renovations were started on Homewood Field as well as the supplemental practice field. The $1.8 million project was completed in the summer of 2005 and included the addition of lights, thicker-grade fencing, the placement of a wider Sportexe Momentum playing surface, and a state-of-the-art scoreboard.
The old track, which has since been demolished and replaced by a rubber one-lane walking surface, had four lanes on one side and six on the other with the white cemented stands brushing up against both sides of the straight-aways for the 400 meters it runs. Save for a narrow walkway on the far side adjacent to the Shelly Pavilion, the lack of sufficient spacing between the field, the track and the stands essentially prohibited the men's and women's outdoor track teams from accommodating meets. Additionally, the former AstroTurf surface -- which was cited by the NCAA as the cause of a majority of serious knee and shin injuries for athletes -- prevented the men's and women's soccer teams from hosting NCAA championship events.
Compared to original synthetic AstroTurf surface that has an underlying base of rock-hard concrete, the layer of sand and rubber coupled with the plastic sod that comprise the Sportexe surface make for a much more bouncy field. "We went over to a Ravens' game and checked out the [Sportexe surface] with our coaches who then approved of it," Calder said. "We had to get rid of the [AstroTurf] because it was banging up our athletes."With the elimination of the track, the Athletic Center began to search for prospective areas in hopes of constructing a new track. After the purchase of the former Eastern High School property in 2003, Calder and his staff determined that the location was a distinct possibility for their plan.
"We've been using the practice field inside the cinder track there for club sports and some of our varsity sports who go over there when they need to practice on a grass field," Calder said.
When pressed as to whether or not there was an expected date of completion for the new track, Calder believed that the necessary resources were available to complete the project by 2008."
A year from now [because] we want to start on the track as soon as possible," Calder said.
The track will consist of the same rubberized material as the Baltimore Orioles' warning track.
