RHS track star voices support for Project 56

I am writing this letter in regards to Project 56. As a former track and field athlete both at Ritzville as well as in college I have had the opportunity to visit several facilities across the nation both at the high school and collegiate level. Our current facility is inferior to most I have seen, including some of the poorer rural areas in Alabama. The good news is that we have a great footprint and a dedicated plan to bring the facility to a much higher level.

As mentioned two weeks ago by Lori Olson, the Project has been revamped from an ambitious but at the same time daunting task of a 4.5 million dollar complete overhaul of the facilities to the now concentrated new track as well the appropriate field event stations. As of two weeks ago the Project needs about $170,000 to complete this Project.

There are several reasons this project is so important to me and should be important to the community as a whole. The first reason is very easy, a better track equates to better facilities to the junior high and high school track teams of the Broncos. This provides a great competitive advantage for our student athletes daily as they prepare for meets held primarily on all-weather tracks.

Another reason that is overlooked at this point is that each year the LRS and Reardan track team host the Harold Underberg Invitation in Medical Lake. Last year the number of athletes and spectators at this one-day event were north of 400, as a conservative estimate. Thus 400 plus people missed the opportunity to buy sandwiches, drinks, eat a meal following the meet, shop locally before and after their kids’ events, etc. The actual dollar amount is hard to truly gauge but ultimately it has to be higher than zero – which would be the current number.

Finally, my last and most important reason is civic pride. Several other local communities have raised the funds locally and built new tracks and to hear them talk about that achievement and the pride that comes with that is just awesome. With our proximity to the freeway, and the hotels we currently have in place logistically we could someday host a State “B” track meet if and or when Eastern Washington decides to stop hosting it. This would be a wonderful thing for the community and all the local businesses.

I am one of the last who should be asking people to donate, because at this time Kellie and I have not donated any money. This is due partly for financial reasons and a lack of a guarantee that this project will get done. However $170,000 is really an obtainable goal when you pull our community recourses together. So give whatever you feel comfortable giving and if you can’t give at this time, at least give the Project your encouragement as that could encourage someone else to donate!

John Kragt, Ritzville