Dade school working to correct track size

photo Dade County High School's track will be rebuilt.

TRENTON, Ga. - The long-awaited home track meet at Dade County High School will have to wait until next spring. Maybe.

The school discovered late last year that its new track was not sized correctly and after months of discussion, including an outside second opinion, nothing has been done to correct the matter. Dade County athletic director Bradley Warren said he hopes that soon will change.

"The track was made of good material, but when they went to stripe it it would only hold five lanes instead of the six it should have held," Warren said. "You can't run on that, and it's not what was ordered. All I know is they are going to have to fix it and it will have to be soon."

The track surrounds the football field and with the start of the season a little over three months away, the work will need to be completed by mid-August.

The Dade County Board of Education discussed the problem at its meeting this month. Board members passed a motion that the track would be completely redone by Construction Consultants Inc., and finished no later than Aug. 15. This was after the county brought in a Huntsville, Ala., construction engineer to determine the exact nature of the problem.

Duffy Boles, of Pro Court Construction, told board members the track was too short. According to meeting minutes, Boles could not offer a repair alternative other than to tear down and rebuild the track.

According to Warren the school, built in 1994, hasn't hosted a track meet since asphalt tracks like the one at the school were declared off-limits in 1995. Track coach Glen Hicks had scheduled three meets this spring.

"From our end of it it was disheartening for our kids to not have a track to call their home," said Hicks, who also coaches boys' basketball and who is stepping down as track coach.

"In my opinion it would help participation if they could host a few meets. Hopefully they will have it fixed so the kids can get to work on it."

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.

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