At Monmouth College’s April Zorn Memorial Stadium, workers install the new varsity ‘M’ logo on the Bobby Woll Memorial Field turf on June 12. (MONMOUTH COLLEGE)
$1.6 million worth of renovations are being done to a well-used part of the Monmouth College athletic complex.
College officials say the work being done to April Zorn Memorial Stadium should be done by the start of football season in the fall.
Bobby Woll Memorial Field itself is getting new synthetic turf that will replace what was put in during 2009 when the field first shifted from natural grass.
“This shows our commitment to our student-athletes at Monmouth,” said Roger Haynes, 38-year track coach and current Athletic Director, in a news release. “About 180 student-athletes will use this facility in the coming year – about 110 on the football team and about 70 in track.”
The synthetic turf, Haynes says, should last fifteen to twenty years.
The track area is also getting its first major work done in four decades. The new track will have several layers and when done will be twelve inches deep.
It’s a surface that Haynes says “should be super flat, and it should be plenty firm” — a surface that could help runners go faster.
The track surface should end up being one that is comparable to the surface at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.
Meanwhile, a new red “M” is being put in at the 50 yard line, and one end zone will have “Monmouth” on it, while the other will have “Fighting Scots.”
The college also announced that its second ever night game at the stadium will be played September 7 at 7:00 p.m. against Wartburg, the season opener.
The money for the project, according to the college, came from the State of Illinois Independent Colleges Capital Investment Grant Program.
