The track at Pine Bluff High School’s Albert S. Alexander Field will close June 9 for resurfacing.
Resurfacing the track will take about four to six weeks to complete, an East Harding Construction Co. official told Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree at Tuesday’s monthly board meeting. Alexander Field is also one of a few athletic venues for which the district in April asked Lewis Architects Engineers to draft documents for an athletic construction master schedule.
“Our track will be closed June 9,” Barbaree said. “Our community likes using the track, and that’s something we share with the community. However, we’re going to begin the resurfacing process then.”
Citizens and youth track and field organizations have used the facility for years, but the longstanding track course has seen its rubber top worn down in many areas, making it impossible for the school to host meets and forcing athletes who practice at the venue to tweak their workouts to avoid any hazards. University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff track athletes, including some competing this week in the NCAA West Preliminary at Texas A&M University, practice there.
The Louis Moss Striders are a youth club that has practiced at Alexander Field for years. The club competes in USA Track and Field and Amateur Athletic Union-sanctioned events, and Moss also trains USATF Masters athlete Vickie Liddell, 69, a national 60-meter indoor silver medalist and world long jump bronze medalist this year.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I’ve got to practice somewhere,” Liddell said, adding she has an outdoor meet June 7 at Hendrix College in Conway and the National Senior Games in Des Moines, Iowa, in July.
She also understands the necessity of resurfacing the winning-but-worn track and seemed relieved the course would reopen to the public once resurfaced. In its present state, the course hasn’t made the workouts a cinch.
“You know how your supposed to stay in your lane? You can see those holes have lanes,” Liddell said. “Some of them will still go in holes, but I don’t because it’s not safe. It does make a difference.”
Barbaree added a bidding package for athletic venue upgrades would be offered to vendors within the next couple of weeks. The package would be separate from that which is used in ongoing construction of a new PBHS at its original West 11th Avenue location, although the track resurfacing and basketball arena construction are already part of that project, she clarified.
The athletic venue bidding package will also include upgrades to Jordan Stadium. Any money left over from the construction project budget, along with money in the PBSD building fund, can be used for the athletic upgrades, according to Barbaree.
“There is one section — an audiovisual videoboard — that we have an allocation for in the high school package already, but we will be bidding that out as well,” she said.
SHOWING STRIPES
The PBSD honored several staff members who are retiring, as well as community members for their support of elementary schools and students for their on-campus leadership, with Showing Your Stripes awards.
Retiring staff members include: Barbara Boyce, Kerry Campbell, Karen Clark, Pamela Dorn, Darrell Martin, Helen Thomas-McClemore, Pamela Neal, Debbie Reed, Evelyn Shorter, Harriet Warren, Marcia West, Jerrold Williams and Debra Yu.
Community members being honored were John Varnell, Frank D. Dorsey II, Cierra Williams and Hazel Dunlap Creggett.
Student leaders receiving Stripes awards were Amanda White, Ma’Khyiah Cole, Jordan Williams and Mackenzie Sprinkle.
