By Holly Fesperman LeeSalisbury PostWork on the new North Rowan High School track is well under way.
Crews dug up the old asphalt track last week and started prepping the ground for the new base.
Gene Miller, Rowan-Salisbury assistant superintendent, said workers started pouring new asphalt Friday.
Track Coach Matt Price, along with several North Rowan parents, raised awareness about problems with the track in February when they spoke to the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education about safety concerns.
Price informed board members that he wouldn’t hold any track meets at the school this year because the track was too much of a hazard.
He explained that spiked track shoes get caught in the wide cracks and the track surface is extremely slick.
When Price was still holding meets at the school last year, a visiting female runner fell and suffered several bad scrapes. After that, Price started asking other schools to host North’s meets.
Robert Steele, a former North Rowan track coach, pointed out to board members in February that North’s track team has won several state championships but its track was the worst in the county.
With eight lanes, North’s track is the biggest in the county and the school used to hold the county track meet each year. Price explained that he wasn’t able to do that now because of the condition of the track.
The tennis team wasn’t holding meets at the school’s tennis courts either because of similar safety concerns.
School officials initially said in February that the system had to first cover basic educational expenses before repairing athletic facilities and that the money for the track wasn’t there.
But Board of Education members voted in July to replace both the track and the tennis courts at North Rowan High after the system received a grant from the Robertson Foundation.
The Foundation provided $181,000 toward replacing the track and the school system voted to pay the rest of the cost of replacing the tennis courts.
Miller said the work is moving quicker than expected and might even be finished before the 45-day contract deadline.
Contact Holly Lee at 704-797-7683 or hlee@salisburypost.com.