By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
LARNED — A $2.1 million athletic facility upgrade at Larned High School will
start at the end of May that will install artificial turf for the football
field and construct a new track. USD 495 Board of Education member Buddy Tabler
said the improvements have been under consideration for more than a year when a
committee was formed in the fall of 2021. Tabler said anytime you have a nice
facility, people tend to use it.
"I remember speaking with the
athletic director at Lakin," said Tabler. "They just recently finished a
project like this. He said there isn't a day that goes by that they
don't have kids out there on the field. They never had that before. They
also noticed a significant increase in the number of kids that went out
for those sports, just to participate on something nice."
The Larned school district’s contract with Mammoth Sports Construction will
install the turf, resurface the track, rebuild the pole vault, long jump and high
jump approach areas and construct new shot put and discus rings with netting.
The track will get resurfaced but remain a six-lane track.
"There
was a discussion about going to an eight-lane track, which you have to
have to host regional meets," said Tabler. "The cost was prohibitive. We
would have had to move the home grandstands and visitor's grandstands
to make enough space to do that."
Tabler said a new scoreboard and LED lighting will be included with the
project. Mammoth expects to have the project complete by Aug. 15,
in time for the 2023-2024 school year.
USD 495 will use capital outlay funds for the athletic improvements and negotiated
a lease agreement with Farmers Bank in Larned for the 10-year payment plan.
Tabler added an ongoing fundraiser has been able to collect approximately
$250,000 in private donations.
Listen below to the entire interview with Tabler that aired on Sports Day on 1590 KVGB & 95.5 FM on April 4, 2023.