HOISINGTON — When the Hesston Swathers football team rolls into town on Sept. 1, Elton Brown Field as well as the Cardinals will be ready and waiting.
USD 431 Superintendent Patrick Crowdis shared an update on the progress at a Hoisington Chamber Coffee Hour last Thursday. He said the field at Elton Brown Stadium is about a week from being finished. “They are finishing the numbers and just a few of the seams on the turf,” he said Monday afternoon. “The infield will be done later this week.”
The schedule for the track is still a little bit up in the air, he said. It will be late this week or early next week before work starts on the asphalt and the surface will follow after that.
“When Hesston comes on Sept. 1, everything should be 100% ready to go on the field,” he said. On the track, “we’ll have asphalt down for sure, but we’re still a little up in the air on the track surface. We’re hoping that we will be able to have some time where people can actually get out on it before the game,” he said.
Summertime facelift
Last October, the USD 431 Board of Education approved resurfacing the football field and upgrading track facilities at Hoisington High School. Andover’s ATG construction company won the contract with a low bid of $1.597 million. The project was planned to be completed prior to the start of the 2023-24 football season.
The turf replacement mainly consisted of cutting and removing the old surface. For the track area, however, the existing track and concrete curbs were removed, with the sub-surface of the track stabilized by a mixture of concrete slurry and dirt. On top of that, six inches of rock was placed and leveled.
In the meantime, west of the football field, the long jump and triple jump pits were turned to run north and south, with new concrete pits and runways. Discus rings were relocated to west of the new jumping areas, with athletes throwing to the north and south.
A piece of history
Traditionally, the Cardinals’ first game of the season coincides with the community’s Labor Day festivities.
Crowdis noted that 18 large rolls of turf have been sold already. For those who would like a small memento, pieces measuring about one square foot will be prepared for sale during the celebration.
“We’ve been doing some upgrading so we will also probably have a variety of jerseys and other sports memorabilia for sale,” Crowdis said. “We will be having our own little garage sale.”
