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By
Ashley Waddell
staff writer
If you look at this season’s track and field schedule for Darlington
High School, you’ll notice that the school is not hosting any
games on its new state-of-the-art track. Instead, the use of the track
has been postponed this season because of the distractions from the
construction of their new football stadium and the fact that the high
school did not purchase the needed equipment for the sport.
The track was unveiled in June 2007 and the original master plan for
the facility included space on the inside of the track for a football
field, and was specifically designed so that it could double as a football
facility if need be in the future.
Superintendent Dr. Rainey Knight visited the James E. Welch Football
Stadium a week before graduation last school term and noticed some problems
created by a recent storm. She realized then that they could not seat
people in the grandstands for graduation, so the school board decided
to bring in temporary bleachers.
Soon after, inspections of the stadium indicated that the stands could
not be used without “substantial” repairs and improvements.
“The field already had drainage problems,”
said Dr. Knight. “When we realized the stands needed so much costly
repair, it made sense to build a new stadium. By building a stadium
at the location of the new track, we could take advantage of the lights,
drainage and infrastructures already in place.”
Construction for the new stadium began last December, and according
to Dr. Knight is being done in such a manner so it does not block the
track from being used.
“The construction is taking place outside of the track area, not
in the areas used during a track meet,” said Dr. Knight. “The
track is clear to host meets.” Darlington High Athletic Director
Rick Drawdy said there are a few reasons why they are not hosting track
meets this season.
He said one reason is because of all the construction going on around
the track area, and the school was afraid to bring in other teams for
liability reasons. Plus, he said it’s an “image factor.”
He didn’t want other schools coming in and seeing the “mess”
around their new track and getting a bad impression of Darlington High
School.
However, the biggest reason for not hosting any meets is the fact that
the school did not allocate the funds to purchase the needed equipment
for the track teams to host their own meets or to use for practice.
“We’re in the process of purchasing the equipment,”
said Drawdy. “It takes a good amount of money to buy what we need,
and we are now making budget adjustments to buy the items we need.”
Drawdy went on to say that they didn’t purchase the equipment
while the plans for the track were being set in motion, while it was
being constructed or once it was unveiled, because they did not have
the money set aside for such a project in their athletic budget.
They haven’t purchased the equipment as of yet because they expected
the football season to generate more money that it actually did.
The track was constructed using $600,000, which was money allocated
by the Darlington County School Board back in March 2006.
“Traditionally schools purchase their own sports equipment,”
said Dr. Knight.
“It was not in the district’s plan to purchase the track
equipment. Capital projects, like the construction of a new stadium
or weight room, do not usually include the cost to equip that facility.
For example, a new weight room is being built in Lamar as part of their
new gym. The school will use their old weight equipment in the room
and then will purchase new equipment as they can. When the district
provided funds for a track in Hartsville, funds were not provided for
the track equipment.”
Dr. Knight continued to say that it will cost around $25,000 to purchase
the track and field equipment Darlington High School needs.
Boys Track and Field coach and Cross Country coach Kevin Kelley said
it’s “disappointing to the seniors on the team this year
who were running for the last time and cannot host meets on their brand
new track”.
Most of the runners witnessed the track, which was originally supposed
to be completed by December 2006, being constructed and were present
for the unveiling, so they were particularly disappointed to learn that
hosting was pushed back yet another year.
Kelley said they’ve got some excellent talent on the team, and
were hoping to host region this year.
Dr. Knight confirmed that the school is currently reviewing their funding
options to purchase the track equipment, and is in the process of securing
funds from community donors.
She added that the district will review any unused funds from the stadium
project that could possibly be allocated for the track equipment.
“The district had no choice but to begin construction
(on the stadium) as soon as possible in order to finish by our August
1 deadline,” said Knight. “For that reason, the construction
was planned in such a manner that it would not prevent use of the track
or disrupt the school.”
The track and field project was split up into three different phases.
Phase one included the construction of the track, asphalt walkways,
sprigging, irrigation and lighting, and was completed for $575,000.
Phase two includes restrooms and concessions stands, home bleachers,
visitors’ bleachers and additional fencing, and was begun because
the bleachers at the old stadium were condemned.
Phase three of the project includes construction of an auxiliary gym
to make a new home for basketball, volleyball and wrestling. According
to Dr. Knight, there are no plans to proceed with Phase three until
additional funding becomes available. |
