Calaveras High School Looking to Banish Muddy Playing Fields Forever

April 26 , 2005
By Erin Mayes
The Union Democrat

Another foothills high school looking to banish muddy playing fields forever is turning to artificial turf.

Calaveras High School will pay almost $1 million to have synthetic turf installed on its its Frank Meyer Field by graduation, on June 1. Crews are now scraping grass off the gridiron.

The San Andreas school is following in the footsteps of Sonora High School, which had to raise only $250,000 for new field turf thanks to an agreement between FieldTurf, Nike and the US Soccer Foundation.

Each organization chipped in for the remaining $700,000 cost in return for free advertising on a reality television program filmed in Sonora called "Three Wishes." Replacement of the school's field was one granted wish.

Sonora school officials say sports teams and the school's band will be more comfortable on the new cushioned turf, as it will prevent the muddy mosh pit that inevitably forms during the rainy season.

Board members in Calaveras County say they're looking forward to the same thing.

"Every year we spend a lot of money redoing that field," said Gerri Conway, a long-time Calaveras Unified School District trustee. "At the end of football season, it's a swamp."

It costs the school between $30,000 and $50,000 a year to maintain the field, said Scott Mills, district maintenance and operations supervisor. Water and labor are the major costs, he said.

"It's horrible — one game in the rain and you're done," Mills said. "You can put down sand but inevitably the cleats and the traffic wears through."

The district will pay more than $930,000 on the turf project, using state funds that can only be used for capital improvement projects, Conway said.

But some parents would rather see the money pay for teacher salaries or extracurricular programs, she said.

"They don't understand the convoluted way the state sets up its financing situation," Conway said. "We have to play by their rules in order to obtain money for improvements."

The synthetic turf will end up paying for itself in saved maintenance costs, she said.

In nearby Angels Camp, Bret Harte Union High School District officials have discussed putting artificial turf in for a soccer field at the school's planned sports complex on Murphys Grade Road.

But, Superintendent Joe Wilimek said yesterday, that plan has been nixed.

"It's too cost prohibitive," he said. "If we were ever to put in artificial turf, we would put it in our main (football) stadium."

Wilimek said the synthetic turf for the soccer field would have cost the district almost $500,000. He said he's unsure how much a grass field will cost. So far the district and nonprofit Bret Harte-Angels, Inc. have raised about $1.5 million of the $3.5 million needed to build the entire complex, which will consist of a baseball diamond, two softball fields, a swimming pool, five tennis courts, two basketball courts, two volleyball courts and a soccer field.

The district will start work this summer on tennis courts and underground electrical work, he said, adding that he's unsure when the soccer field could be installed.

"If we don't get the money, it's not going to go in," Wilimek said.

Tony Tyrrell, district trustee and executive director of Bret Harte-Angels, said he and fellow trustees visited Stockton a few months ago to check out the artificial turf at Lincoln High School, which two years ago had the turf installed on its football field. This year it had its baseball field done, too.

Tyrrell said he sees the turf's benefits but doesn't know where the money will come from for Bret Harte High's main football field.

"It's on top of our wish list," he said.