The Track Question

Do we need a track at Marist? Uh. Duh! Of course we need track facilities at Marist! This question seems to be bandied about more these days on campus, and not just from our team members. There have been class assignments, capping projects and more chatter on the topic around Marist than ever before. Non-team members, working on these assignments, have struck an indignant chord: “How DARE we have a track team and no track for them to train on! What are the administrators thinking? It’s not fair. It’s just not fair!” 

Do we need a track at Marist? For emphasis, as I often do to the mild annoyance of those to whom I send text messages, I will answer this in ALL CAPS so that my stance on this subject is clear: OF COURSE WE NEED TRACK FACILITIES AT MARIST!

Now. Alert readers will note the very Clintonesque nature of this answer (“there is no improper relationship…”) with the use of "track facilities" instead of simply "a track." A track? Certainly! But, what KIND of track? A-ha! We’ll get into that in a moment … But first, back to this question of whether we NEED a track (there I go with the ALL CAPS again …). Do we NEED a track? Don’t worry. I’m not going to repeat my answer in BOLD CAPS this time. However, consider this Fun Fact: There are 11 schools in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), all of whom have cross country and/or track teams. Venture to guess how many of those 11 MAAC schools have on-campus track facilities? The answer may surprise you, and it is three (3!). So! We are in the majority in the MAAC, in terms of track facilities, or lack thereof, at 72.7 percent of the conference.

Now. Imagine you are a Fancy Administrator at Marist. You hear the clamoring for track facilities. You see the need for track facilities. However, the majority of your MAAC brethren seem to be getting by just fine without track facilities, thank you very much. There are national caliber programs and athletes in the MAAC, many of whom manage just fine and dandy without on-campus track facilities. Your very own student-athletes on the Marist cross country and track teams are doing quite well. They are excellent students, and they have achieved greatness in their sport – All-MAAC, All-East, All-Academic, All-District, school records are set regularly. You see where this is going. We have success. Our athletes are doing their jobs, quite well, indeed. And we do it without track facilities. It’s the ultimate Catch-22: Succeeding without track facilities lessens the urgency to address the need created by a lack of track facilities. If it ain’t broke …

OK. Why do I insist on writing “track facilities” instead of simply “track” here? First, again for the record, we would be thrilled with any upgrade to what we currently have, which is essentially nothing. However! Given the choice, we would much prefer – and would get far more usage out of – a new indoor track facility. You remember the post from earlier this week, when we were all uncomfortably numb out at the Vassar track? Add a stiff north breeze off the Hudson River – the likely location of a new outdoor track would be North Field, along the river – and it would be downright brutal. Again! Build us an outdoor track on North Field, and we will strike up the band and have a parade from the McCann Center down there in celebration. WE’LL TAKE IT and we’ll be thrilled with it. But given the choice, an indoor track would get far more bang for its buck in terms of usage, and even hosting of meets, than an outdoor track.

If we got a brand new outdoor track, it would be difficult to host meets on it because we do not have adequate grounds on the Marist campus for the “long throws’’ – javelin, discus, hammer. If we got a brand new indoor track, it would not be difficult to outfit it with all the indoor field facilities to host meets of all kinds (Another Fun Fact: The first-ever girls winter track New York state championships was held in the McCann Center, in the late 1970s; if McCann could host a meet, certainly a new, state-of-the-art building could host one as well). Our team – sprinters and field events in particular – would utilize an indoor facility for the better part of four months, from November through March. In addition, an indoor facility with turf or other synthetic surface on the infield could benefit almost every athletic program at Marist for that same timeframe. An outdoor track would have great benefit to the Marist community as well, don’t get me wrong. But from a strictly track season centric point of view, an indoor facility makes more sense for all of us; we can get through the relatively brief outdoor track season by utilizing off-campus track facilities – getting by with a little help from our friends, as we have done for decades.

So, to all those in the Marist community that are beating the drum loudly on our behalf for a track – THANK YOU! But please. If you happen to read this, keep beating the drum for sure, but consider switching your rhythm to an indoor track facility. We’ll take whatever we get, and we appreciate the support. But if you really think about it, an indoor track makes a lot of sense on a lot of levels. Again, we are thankful for all the chatter; if means folks care about our plight. We’ll see what happens over the coming months and years.