By Paul Schofield

Published: Tuesday, August 21, 2012, 9:02 p.m.
Updated: Wednesday, August 22, 2012

If things go as planned, athletes at Greater Latrobe High School will have a new training facility this time next year.

Plans for a $10 million multi-purpose athletic complex at the high school are on schedule, and final bids will be awarded in October and construction is scheduled to begin in November, or after the football season.

“Our hope is to have some of the new facility ready in a year,” Latrobe Superintendent Judy Swigart said. “If you look across the county, we're one of the few districts that don't have a facility like this at the school.”

The new facility would provide teams two lighted artificial turf fields to replace the two non-lighted grass fields. A new field house with locker rooms, a weight room and meeting rooms, will separate the fields and can be used by the track teams, lacrosse, field hockey, soccer, softball, baseball and football teams for practice.

The tennis team will get a fifth court so an entire match can be played at the same time, and the cross country team will have a new course to run on.

The school is proposing a field with bleachers that could accommodate 2,000 people, a press box and lights. The field will be used instead of Memorial Stadium, which is located in downtown Latrobe, for almost every athletic event other than varsity football.

The high school campus is located in Unity Township.

Football coach Ray Reitz is excited about the new facility.

“It's going to help all of the athletic programs, just not football,” Reitz said. “It puts a lot of events on the campus and hopefully it will generate even more school spirit.

“What will benefit the football program the most is the new weight room. It will be larger and more state of the art.”

Baseball and softball teams will continue to use their fields for games, but in case the fields get to muddy, one of fields could be converted to hold a game. The baseball team will continue to play at Legion Keener Field and the softball team over the hill in Youngstown across from Latrobe Country Club.

Athletic Director Mark Mears said the state-of-the-art facility will provide the athletes in the junior and senior high schools something special.

“It brings almost all events to the campus, so hopefully, it generates more enthusiasm among the students and community,” Mears said. “We also hope it creates more participation from the students. It's a good thing for the school.”

Paul Schofield is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at pschofield@tribweb.com or at 724-836-5095.

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