Woodlawn School officially opened its new track and field facility with a ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the entire student body as well as parents and friends. The $1 million facility, named “Alumni Track and Field”, includes an 8-lane 400-meter track; field event venues for shot put, discus, long jump, high jump, and pole vault; an NCAA-sized natural grass soccer field; and an 88-space parking lot. The ceremony was highlighted by remarks from special guest Bill Rodgers, 1976 US Olympian and 4-time winner of the Boston Marathon.

The Richard Burrage Company of Concord acted as the general contractor for the project, and performed all of the dirt-moving, grading, and drainage work. The Terra Green Company of Concord installed the irrigation and sod that makes up the soccer field and the exterior of the track, as well as the stone seating. Medallion Athletic Products of Mooresville laid the actual track surface and certified that it is exactly 400m in length.

The facility was dedicated in honor of Woodlawn alumni – there are currently 75 alums from the classes of 2010 through 2016 that are now scattered all over the world. Five alumni were present for the ceremony and took part in the ribbon cutting:
– Sayre Weir ’11, a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont, who is now on the Woodlawn School faculty.
– Sophia Spach ’11, a graduate of Elon University who now lives in England.
– Michael Kaczmarczyk ’14, currently a junior at Pace University in New York City who was part of the varsity cross country and track teams while at Woodlawn.
– Greg Conn ’11, a graduate of Furman University who lives in Greenville, SC and was part of the varsity cross country and track teams while at Woodlawn.
– Sawyer Bowman ’11, a graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine where he ran cross country and track, who now resides in San Francisco. Sawyer is still the Woodlawn School record holder at the 5 km cross country distance.

Both Sayre and Sophia were a part of the initial girls varsity soccer team at Woodlawn, a team which eventually won the NCISAA 1A state championship in 2015.

The efforts of Michael, Greg, and Sawyer, as well as many other alums, helped set the stage for 2 state championships won by our boys cross country team in 2014 and 2015, and also a state championship won by our girls cross country team in 2015.

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