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Gearing up for stadium fundraising

Dilapidated DHS track can’t host meets

For the second year in a row, the Durango High School track won’t be able to host its home meets because of the track’s condition. High school football teams will hold games at the school’s stadium, but the uneven, hard field may increase the possibility of injuries.

Band, soccer, lacrosse and dance teams all need a place to practice and play, and teachers are looking for outdoor classroom space.

DHS began Phase I of a three-phase project at the DHS stadium this fall, with Phase II scheduled to take place summer 2016.

“People will notice the work at the northwest corner,” said DHS Activities Director Dave Preszler, “and that the scoreboard is being taken down at the southern end.”

Phase I, which also includes flattening the northern end, installing pole vault and long-jump fields and installing a retaining wall, is being paid for with $900,000 from the 9-R school board.

Phase II is going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million, and it will require community support. It will include a new AstroTurf field, some new seating and a new track.

“We’re in the early process of figuring out the funds we need to raise to meet the needs of the school and the athletes,” said Julie Popp, director of communications and marketing for Durango School District 9-R. The district has set a date of Oct. 1 to launch the fundraising campaign.

The AstroTurf will both offer a higher quality field and save on maintenance costs, Popp said.

“We wear the grass out,” Preszler said. “We overuse it, and it’s worse because we have such a short growing season.”

The fundraising will be done in collaboration with the Durango Education Foundation.

abutler@durangoherald.com

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