Sprague High Installing Artificial Turf at Olympic Stadium

Story by Mark Gilman of FullAccessSports.com

Photo courtesy: Mark Gilman FullAccessSports.com

SALEM, Ore. - The number of artificial turf fields in the Salem-Keizer School District is about to double.

Thanks to a massive fundraising effort by athletic boosters, Sprague High School has begun installing field turf at the school's Olympic Stadium.

The new field is slated to be ready in time for Sprague's first home football game September 7 against McMinnville.

Chris Roche, manager of the privately-funded project, says $900,000 is being spent to replace the school's original grass surface with field turf--the same brand of surface installed recently at the University of Oregon and Oregon State. He says the aging grass field, in use since 1972, has needed to be removed for years.

"The poor condition of the grass has limited use of the facility to just a few months every year," he said. "The new field turf will increase capacity for activities for both Sprague High and the greater Salem area."

Sprague football coach Robin Hill also likes the change.

"It's awesome," he said. "It will be a beautiful facility that the entire community can enjoy."

The first work on the project began the week of the fourth of July holiday, when the original grass was removed from the site.

Major excavation work is scheduled to start July 19 when crews will remove top soil, level the surface, and install rock and other drainage elements.

The 81 thousand square feet of turf itself will be placed inside the perimeter the current school track. That track, a separate part of the project, is slated to be replaced sometime next year.

Sprague will join West Salem as the only schools in the Central Valley Conference with all-weather football fields.

Salem's Willamette University also has artificial turf at McCulloch Stadium.

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