This year, Memorial Stadium is getting a renovation to its track, adding two more lanes to make it eight lanes. While the track team is excited for the addition, they won’t be able to use their home track during the season this year. They will be practicing at Rossi Field this year while the renovations are being made. They are hoping to finish renovations by July 2026.
Ella Noel, a sophomore at Greater Latrobe Senior High School, is a jumper on the track team, doing long, triple, and high jump. One thing Noel will miss most about having her home track will be having no home meets. “I don’t really like not having any home meets. They are overall a more comfortable enviroment then away meets, and I always feel less nervous competing at home,” she said.
She knows she will still perform to the best of her abilities, but being at home will affect her mentally. “I like having home meets earlier in the season to get used to competing again. No home meets shouldn’t affect me very much, but I am expecting to feel more nervous than usual,” Noel said.
While Rossi Field is still a great track to practice on, its lines and size do not match those of many other tracks, making it harder for Noel to get used to it. “The only thing that could affect my performance would be the inaccurate marks and times from the track not being the regulation size, and the conditions of the sand pits,” she said. But she feels that this will help with meets practicing somewhere new. Noel said, “The adjustment will be good practice for away meets.”
One big thing that will be affected is her academics. “Having only away meets this year means a lot of early dissamals. I have two of my hardest classes in the last period of the day, and missing class is going to make understanding the content very difficult. To stay caught up in these classes, I will also have to put a lot more time into completing and making up my missed work outside of school,” said Noel.
Even though this year will be difficult, she knows it will be worth it once the track is done. She said, “I do hope to have the home track back next year. The new renovations will definitely improve the conditions and overall experience of home meets.” Even though this year will be a change, Noel still hopes to improve and do her best. “Hopefully, I PR in all my events and continue to qualify for meets without getting injured,” she said.
