With no activities and no classes on school campuses, the Vidalia High School is taking advantage of the extra time to complete projects that would normally happen during the summer. One of the projects is the resurfacing of the track at Buck Cravey Field on the campus of Vidalia High School. Athletic Director Tommy Dalley said the $118,000.00 project began last week and should be completed within the next couple of weeks.
“Eco Sustainable Contractors Inc. has been working just over a week and we are already seeing a difference. This is a project that we have had on the board for a while so when the state ended athletic activities because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, it allowed us to begin work and not have to wait until summer.”
This comes after the school board discussed facility needs and identified the track as a priority. According to Superintendent Dr. Garrett Wilcox the prior surface had many safety issues, including cracks and holes from wear and tear and drainage problems.
“As our track programs have improved over the past few years, there has been more and more participation on both the boys and girls side, and our track needed to be brought up to date to give our student athletes the best possible surface to train and compete on. The old surface was just worn out and it was time for the improvement.”
The project which is being paid entirely with SPLOST funds also includes the high jump space, runways for long jump and triple jump and a pole vault pit with standards and runway.
“The new six lane track adds to our top-notch athletic facilities here at Vidalia,” said Dalley. “For the first time in our track and field program’s history, it will have a world class, competitive track for practice and competition.”
According to Vidalia Track Coach Mandy Godbee, the project is a huge plus for the program. “This not only allows us to be able to host some big meets but it’s also going to be a huge boost for our runners. Before I had to worry about the wear and tear on our runner’s knees, shins and backs, especially the distance runners because they were constantly pounding on concrete, but with this new surface, it will allow us to not only practice better, but also compete better.”
With the old surface Godbee said that her runners and even jumpers would have to worry about slippage which caused them to practice different than they performed in a meet.
“We would practice here and have to wear shoes with no spikes because we were on concrete and would worry about slipping. Then we would get to a meet and run in spikes and our timing would be off, especially in the field events. Even when we were running at practice we would have to be cautious and not go all out. This will allow us to run on a surface that we will be competing on not only here in Vidalia but also when we travel we will be on equal ground.”
Godbee went onto say that the addition of the pole vault pits along with runways and high jump space is going to be advantageous.
“Our top pole vaulter had to go train in Fitzgerald just to be able to compete. Now that we have the facility and equipment here at home, it will not only help with him, but hopefully it will also stir some interest in the sport, especially among the girls. The addition of the new high jump space and runways for our long jump and triple jump pit will also allow us to go all out and hopefully that will lead to more height and longer jumps.” (Courtesy of Vidalia High School)
