When T.C. Williams High School opens in August, its running teams will be unable to host competitions for the fourth consecutive year. And this year, the teams won’t even be able to train on their track, which has become sort of a parking lot thanks to construction at the campus.
“I’ve had kids dodging school buses on the track,” assistant cross country coach James Garner said. “It may sound funny, but this is a real situation.”
And it’s taking its toll. Garner says the track team’s numbers have fallen by half.
T.C. Williams athletic director Kerry Donley acknowledged the track team has been using “less than ideal” facilities for the past three years.
“I’ll be talking to some nearby schools to see if we can share facilities,” Donley said.
Garner says he’s embarrassed his team has to beg private high schools for track time. The Alexandria school’s track program is its most decorated sport, he says, with 11 state and 28 regional titles.
Laying the new track will be delayed until at least May, assistant superintendent John Porter told The Examiner. The new football stadium must be constructed working outward: field first and track second, Porter said. Otherwise, construction equipment will destroy the track. By the time the football field is completed in October, it will be too cold to lay the track, he said.
Next spring will also put the school system in a new year’s budget. This year’s budget earmarked $200,000 to resurface the track and $800,000 to lay artificial turf for the field.
The track funds were sacrificed to pay for turf when artificial turf prices jumped in recent months, Porter said. Next year, the money originally budgeted for new bleachers – $300,000 – will pay for a new track, Porter said.
Construction at the high school necessitated the track’s complete replacement. Trailers to house temporary classrooms were put on the field. Holes were cut into the track to lay utilities to the trailers, and staff drove their cars across the track.
“Because of our use of the field for temporary classrooms, the track has to be replaced, not resurfaced,” Porter said.
