When high school sports resume, Northwestern Lehigh will debut its new track around the football field.

The track was completed this spring to finish off a stadium renovation project that included the installation of artificial turf on the field. The turf allowed for more sports to be played in the stadium, including soccer, field hockey and lacrosse in addition to football.

With the track now completed, all of the renovation goals have been completed. It was hoped that the field house would be able to be renovated or rebuilt, but that was crossed off the list due to economic concerns. The project is still a part of the master plan and could be revisited at some point down the road.

“This was all part of the original stadium project,” explained Northwestern Lehigh athletic director Jason Zimmerman of the upgrade to the track. “The project got delayed last summer, and rather than shut the stadium down for several weeks in September and October to complete the track, we felt it would have the least amount of impact on the least amount of teams and players if we delayed it until this spring.”

The upgrades include areas for pole vaulting, broad jumping and other track and field events. The previous track was gravel, which slowed runners and had other shortcomings for track and field events, which the new track will erase.

“Obviously, the advantage of a synthetic track is you can compete in all types of weather. A spring rain shower will no longer force us to postpone. It is proven that better times and marks are achieved on all-weather surfaces, and it is safer for our student-athletes. Falling on cinders makes for a bad day,” said Zimmerman. “Additionally, our labor hours maintaining the track will significantly reduce. Our staff won’t need to paint and spend the time grooming on a weekly basis.”

Weather presented problems on both the field and the track before the renovations. Football games were often played in mud during rain, and the surface would become very unstable, which could lead to an increase in injuries. The artificial turf provided a more consistent surface, and the upgrade from a gravel track to a synthetic track will do much the same.

While the coronavirus derailed spring sports, the fact that the track and field season was wiped out did solve one problem for Zimmerman and the track and field teams, as Northwestern Lehigh would have had to hold all of its home track meets at other facilities while the project was being undertaken.

“We would have had to compete and practice on the road this past spring,” said Zimmerman. “Fortunately, we have some awesome neighbors in Northern Lehigh, Parkland, and Whitehall who were going to help us out. In the end, COVID-19 took care of any issues with not having a home facility to practice and compete on.”