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player ready...For the track teams of Woodlawn and Twin Groves middle schools, the days of drawing lanes and finish lines with paint on grass and dirt are about to end, officials say.
What used to be their practice “field” now has a paved foundation, a rubber surface atop it and permanent paint atop that.
Real tracks have arrived for schools that officials say have never had them before. At Woodlawn, a 400-meter oval will likely have a soccer field inside it, and could host state meets. At Twin Groves, a 200-meter oval is the most they could fit into the already developed Woodland Park next door, according to Jon Hitcho, assistant superintendent for business at Kildeer-Countryside Elementary District 96, which operates both schools.
“We’re grateful that we were able to get that in, but we weren’t going to demolish tennis courts and things for the track,” said Hitcho.
Both have track teams that had to practice with hand-painted lanes and finish lines on grass fields, Hitcho said. About a year and a half ago, the School Board worked construction of proper tracks into this summer’s capital projects budget.
Hitcho said the final costs came out to $540,000 at Twin Groves and $830,000 for the larger Woodlawn design. Combined, the two were $143,000 under their budget, he said.
The district owns what had been an empty field immediately north of Woodlawn, and setting up a full-sized oval there was no problem, Hitcho said. The new facility will meet the regulations of the Illinois Elementary School Association, he said, making it a potential site for large-scale meets —which could bring visiting teams and their families to Long Grove’s restaurants and businesses.
“That was the intent of the board,” said Hitcho. “I’m sure bleachers would be a nice thing to have, if we host a meet.”
Another future step could be to set up a soccer field inside the oval, Hitcho said. He said Woodlawn’s soccer players currently practice at a Hawthorn Woods facility, and play their games at Stevenson High School.
Both tracks will be open to the public when the schools are not using them, Hitcho said. During all that Woodland renovation, the park district also added a court for pickleball, a sport similar to badminton.
The district said it planned to hold ribbon-cutting ceremonies for both facilities on Oct. 8. Presently, the final details are being added on, Hitcho said — including the paint for the lanes, starting lines and finish lines.
Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer