Du Quoin HS Unveils Renovated VanMetre Field Friday Night

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Friday night is a night to leave your school politics and egos at the front gate and celebrate the unveiling of the newly renovated VanMetre track and field. The reference to the new track is all-important in that it will let Du Quoin host home track meets this spring for the first time in years. No dedication ceremony is planned.

Ropes, cones and signage may tell you to watch where you step as the top coat on the new track sets up. Contractors were using a mini-paving machine Wednesday to lay down that new running surface, which has to both air dry and chemically dry.

Some of the last details included installation of new fencing and a decorative retaining wall against the track on the Madison Street side. Band members and handicapped football fans will enjoy their own all-new seating in the northwest corner of the stadium. Visitors also get new seating. Gone are the remnants of the Big "S" Transports, Inc. on the south side. The signature accomplishment is VanMetre's new turf playing surface.

Critics of the time and money expended on the complex in the perennial "sports vs. academics" debate will be silenced in the coming months as the beautiful new two-story high school campus rises up to the east of VanMetre behind the existing high school. Two day games and one underclassmen's night game have already been played on the new surface. Game time Friday is 7 p.m. as Du Quoin hosts Herrin.