The track being constructed for Tarleton’s track and field team will be one of three tracks in Texas and one of 10 tracks in the United States that are eligible for professional and international meets, including the Olympics. 

“It is going to be a great place for us to train. We loved being inside Memorial Stadium, but different programs use the turf,” Head Coach for track and field and Cross Country, Clay Holland said. “We loved working with those programs, but us having a facility to ourselves to primarily train is going to allow us to take that next level step in training, recruiting, and all other external demands that we have…We are excited to have our facility and get to work on it.”

The track is being constructed off of Frey and Harbin, in between the University Police Department and the Soccer Complex, behind Memorial Stadium. Once finished, the track will have eight lanes and be bolstered with LED stadium lights, a FusionH XP2 synthetic turf system, and a unique track system that is World Athletics (WA) certified. WA certification is required for a track to host internationally and set world records.

“To me [this track] means a lot, not only for me running all four years, but it also means something to the people that follow me so they will have opportunities bigger than what I had,” Senior track and field athlete, Sullivan Sanders said. “It comes together to make sure that Tarleton is elevating to a higher standard of Division I Track.”  

This system is called the Hellas’ epIQ Tracks Z5000. It includes high-grade polyurethane and rubber and a 13-millimeter pour system, which qualifies for the WA-certified Track Synthetic Surface Testing Specifications for friction, evenness, thickness, tensile properties, shock absorption, firmness, strength, and force reduction.

“What we are trying to do as a program is take steps daily to improve ourselves. This new facility is going to give us a great end game and end goal that we can work towards. First and foremost, we are just trying to grow our program day-by-day and year-by-year to get to the level that we need to perform at the conference and national level.

This WA-certified track will strengthen the track and field teams’ already well-established record. Tarleton track and field has completed 112 new marks in their record book and broken nine school records for both indoor and outdoor events. Since Tarleton joined Division I Athletics in the Western Athletics Conference (WAC), Tarleton track and field has had five individual conference champions and 55 All-WAC first or second team sets. 

“Every year, there is more and more of a higher standard of athletes being recruited,” Sanders said. “Coach Holland puts together a fantastic team that is ready to take the next step with this track to produce conference and national champions.”

On top of school records, this new state-of-the-art track will set the stage for national meets, international meets, and maybe even the Olympics.

For more information, visit tarletonsports.com.