The wait is over.
After nine years without hosting a single track meet, Long Beach State’s newly renovated and state-of-the-art Jack Rose Track Stadium is complete and ready for the 2016 Big West Track & Field championships.
Originally, the Track was supposed to be finished by May 2015. However, the track, named after former Track and Field head coach Jack Rose, didn’t officially open until June 13 when the campus hosted the Special Olympics Southern California Summer Games.
Roger Kirk, Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Media Relations at LBSU, said the main reason why the project was stalled is because one of the subcontractors went out of business.
Ohno Construction, who was the main construction company responsible for the project, contracted CalTrack for the resurfacing, but the subcontractor failed to show up on its first day on March 23.
“[Then] we had to contact a new subcontractor and in the meantime that took about three weeks,” Kirk said. “Anytime it’s a major construction project like that, a couple weeks [delay] here and there isn’t to be unexpected.”
Although the construction lasted longer than originally planned, the men and women’s Track & Field teams are getting a top of the line, International Association of Athletics Federation facility.
The IAAF is the world governing body of Track and Field athletics. LBSU’s Athletic Director Vic Cegles said that LBSU’s new Track is one of 13 facilities in the country that is IAAF certified.
Unlike the old track facility, this new one is ready for NCAA competition. Cegles recalled how the previous track was unfit to host any type of events and remembered the state he found it in when he became athletic director.
“I’ve been here for nine years, and at the time that I arrived it was unusable,” Cegles said. “We could not hold a track meet at LBSU because it was in such disrepair.”
Cegles said the University finally stepped in and agreed that the previous track needed to be renovated and paid for the majority of the “$4.1-4.2 million” cost, with $3.4 million going to Ohno.
In order to make the facility an IAAF certified track, the Athletic Department contributed an additional $750,000 for additional necessities like new pole vault equipment – which cost $35,000, according to Cegles.
The new Jack Rose Track Stadium possesses improved, top-of-the-line features that place it among the best in the area. For instance, the track boasts smoother curves. This means that the running lanes are wider and the track has a more elliptical shape making it faster.
But, track and field head coach Andy Sythe said that this facility is more unique than other collegiate track facilities in because of its location.
“There’s no question in my mind that this is the best track in all of California,” Sythe said. “I’ve been to every track in the country and many of them have similar features and attributes. There’s certain things that you can’t invest in for a facility and that is location.”
Sythe believes that the investment in the state-of-the-art track facility will return a beneficial experience for everyone at LBSU. He said the fans will receive an Olympic-like experience at track and field events.
“We have a chance to really engage the track and field fans,” Sythe said. “And bring outstanding events which will bring outstanding athletes both on the collegiate and possibly on the national and international level.”
For the past three seasons, the Long Beach State Track & Field team commuted back and forth from campus to practice at Golden West College. With that, came a lot of stress and coordination issues.
“It feels like a slice of heaven, to be back home and not have our athletes displaced to go to practice,” Sythe said. “So much coordination and patience takes place when you’re trying to get large groups offsite. If one person is held up, everyone is held up.”
Still, the men’s track and field team has won three-straight Big West championships; Sythe also won coach of the year all through that run.
Even though LBSU reached success, Cegles said the track and field program was affected in its recruiting process. But, both Cegles and Sythe are now confident that the new track and field facility will change that for future seasons.
“Young people are consumers and it’s very difficult to recruit without a quality facility,” Cegles said. “They want to go to the school with the best coaches and best facilities.”
In addition to the competitive benefits the new facility should bring, LBSU will gain benefits off it through the expected revenue that the facility will generate by hosting major events like the track and field regionals. Both Kirk and Sythe are convinced that LBSU have a shot at snatching the job of hosting the West Preliminaries away from the Universities of Texas and Oregon.
“This isn’t just a step above our conference,” Sythe said. “This is really a step above anything built in the Western hemisphere of the U.S. The University of Oregon really has what people consider the premiere track facility but not the premiere track location.”