LYNCHBURG, Virginia -- The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) will hold its indoor track & field championships at Liberty’s new facility Feb. 12 to 13. The Division II conference decided to move its championships from North Carolina on Sept. 30 in opposition to the state’s House Bill 2, which is commonly referred to as “the bathroom law.”
Construction crews were hard at work on a chilly Thursday afternoon when Brant Tolsma led a tour of Liberty University’s new indoor track & field facility.
Tolsma, who is in his 31st season as the Flames’ track & field coach and has won 100 conference championships during his tenure, knew exactly where everything was supposed to go. Each detail was important, right down to the flooring the athletes will walk on in the team camp area perched on the second floor.
Tolsma stopped and glanced at the work underway. The 200-meter track sat in the middle of the first floor, its corners raised as high as they could go to showcase the hydraulic banking. To the other side of the facility, permanent seating was being finalized. Below those stands, a training facility was taking shape to enhance the student-athlete’s experience.
“It’s everything that we know to want at this time,” Tolsma said, “and it’s more than I ever dreamed Liberty would ever get. It’s pretty amazing.”
The university is moving the indoor track & field facility from Green Hall to a plush, $30-million complex underneath the LU monogram that will rival the other facilities in the nation that boast hydraulic banking.
When completed early next month, the 130,000-square-foot facility will feature about 1,500 permanent seats, a six-lane track, an eight-lane warm-up track below an elevated team area. It also will have accommodations for field events that can be held concurrently with track, as well as locker rooms, a coaches’ hospitality room, concession stands, training rooms and offices.
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