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Ohio County Board of Education Spending $288,000 To Resurface Wheeling Park High School Track

WHEELING — The race is on to get a new surface on the track at Wheeling Park High School before track season starts in the spring.

The site is the home to the annual Dick Dei Track Classic, named after the late Wheeling Park High assistant principal and state championship-winning track coach. Officials with Ohio County Schools have been wanting to bring the track up to standard.

“It has Dick Dei’s name on it — it (a track area overhaul) has to be perfect,” said Board of Education President David Croft.

Ohio County Schools Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones told board of education members this week a slip near the track must be fixed before the track can be resurfaced, and once that area dries out, excavation work can begin.

Plans are to break ground on the track area as soon as next week with the hope of having track improvements completed by the time track season starts in the spring. The work will be done by Hellas Construction “epiQ Tracks” of Austin, Texas.

The resurfaced track will reflect a little Patriot pride as well, Jones said. It will be a blue track sporting red exchange zones.

“This is the fastest track you can order, so we expect record-breaking times,” Jones said.

The cost for the resurfacing is expected to be about $288,000, he said. The project is being paid for through the terms of a $42.2 million bond issue approved by voters in 2018.

There also are plans to pave and increase parking in the track area, and to build a concessions and restroom building, according to Jones. He said there is a new scoreboard bearing Dei’s name in the works, and the idea is it will be placed on the side of the building to be constructed. The current scoreboard is being removed.

There also will be additional work and landscaping done to define areas around the track, and two-tiered seating areas will be in place for athletes, he said.

Jones also updated board members on the status of other bond-related construction happening at WPHS, involving more than $20 million in bond investment.

“Park — the monster (project) — is progressing,” he said. “A lot of people are working to make sure we are making progress, and right now we are.”

There is a possibility the school district could get some good news that the new athletic field at WPHS could be finished and ready for use by Sept. 3, Jones said.

A heavy rain that occurred earlier this month forced the ceiling to leak into Gym C and the weight room area, causing damage to both areas. A new floor for the weight room has been ordered, while Gym C is getting a multipurpose floor, according to Jones. The weight room floor should be in place by October, he said.

The new floor in Gym C could be installed before school starts Aug. 25 or the week after, according to Jones.

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