Larned High School has been doing many upgrades to the sports facilities, and the last of the upgrades includes the track equipment. Larned has a brand new turf football field, which has been the talk of the town after this past successful season, but many spectators have noticed that the area where our track used to reside is now a dangerous asphalt runway, so what upgrades are yet to be seen?
Most importantly, the LHS track must be overlaid with a brand new track. The new track will be a clay colored orange and red mix, and in order for the new track to be installed, the weather must cooperate. There must be 10 to 14 good weather days in a row for the construction company to be able to lay our new track. Good weather means that it must not rain and the temperature must be above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The main running track will be the same size it was, but it is going to be a clay color this time, instead of black. The high jump, long jump, and pole vault runways are also going to be redone with the new track. The upgrades also include new throwing rings and fences around the shot put and discus areas.
The general contractor for the project is Mammoth Construction, but the sub contractor is Beynon construction, and they are the company that will be replacing our track and field event runways. Beynon specializes in track manufacturing and overlaying, so they are sure to do an amazing job with Larned’s new track, as they only work with certified installers for their assignments.
Spring sports’ practices begin on February 26th, so there are only a few weeks left for the project to be done before it runs into our track team’s practices. However, if the project is not done in time for beginning practices, it will probably be done in time for us to host our annual home track meet! Due to the upgrades, some of the track events are unable to be practiced as normal. All running and jumping events will have to be done in normal running shoes instead of track spikes. Plus, students should try as hard as possible to not fall while running on the bare asphalt during practice; long distance practices will not be affected much by any delay of the track overlay, and throwing events will also remain unaffected. The jumping events will have a hard time jumping using the slicker asphalt as a runway, but the track coaches will surely be able to work around any setbacks brought on from the track overlay.
With the current weather trends, it is likely that Beynon Construction will begin installing the track by the end of February. Once these last upgrades have been completed, all of the upgrades for the sports complex will be entirely finished, so students and community members will be able to enjoy a brand new track, field equipment, and football field!
