Oak Park-River Forest holds first official meet on new campus track

By Michael Newman

Oak Park, Ill – April 8th was not a significant date on the track calendar in Illinois. It was for Oak Park-River Forest Boys Track and Field Coach Tim Hasso as he seemed to be walking on air as he directed staff and his athletes setting up for their first home track meet on their new campus facility.

The school is now 151 years old and according to the coaching staff had never hosted a “home” outdoor meet. “We’ve seen black and white pictures of Oak Park athletes competing inside the cinder track surrounding the football stadium,” Hasso said. “We just don’t know when the picture was taken.”

At the end of 2022, the school received approval to start a rebuild of the field just west of the facility that at that time had their baseball and softball fields contained in that area.

The new track facility moved the baseball and softball fields were moved into park district land south of Lake Street into commons land that both the park district and the school will share.

A cool April day with a slight wind greeted athletes and coaches from Oak Park and Morton Township as the two schools conducted a small Co-Ed meet that also conducted a Senior Day before the start event. The track officially opened on February 6 of last year. The school hastily held a small meet towards the end of the year that was not scheduled.

Hasso was in motion the complete meet as his chest held out proud of their new facility. Christmas had finally come for the Oak Park-River Forest community.

“You know I had to have this track in blue and orange,” Hasso said with a smile. Blue and Orange are the school team colors.

The facility is multi-purpose with sports such as football. soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse matches can be held in the area. There are permanent seats four rows high on the home straightaway on the west side of the track along the Linden Avenue side of the street. Close to 800 people could fit in those stands though Hasso insists they could get 2000 fans into that seating area along with temporary seats at the south end of the track.

The track is eight lanes with sweeping curves good for sprinters, hurdles, and relays. The facility is economical in space like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park which are located within neighborhoods. This facility is snuggled in the Oak Park neighborhood to the west and the school to the east. The Pole Vault runway is at the north end of the stadium, the High Jump pit is on the south end of the track.

A 40-foot-high net was put up surrounding the curve of the track on the north side so that the Discus can be held with the ring on the east side. Hasso noted that all-state Weightman Reese Garland gave the Discus ring a test that passed with flying colors last spring. The horizontal jumps runways have pits on each side outside of the back straight of the track. Shot Put rings are located to the south of the jumps runways.

A fence runs down each side of the infield providing a barrier to keep athletes off the track. There is no need for hurdles to keep athletes off the track. The facility has lights that started to take effect as I left the meet.

The Huskies had used Concordia University to the north of the school for over 20 years for hosting meets and practice. That is not the case anymore. School officials had indicated that it cost yearly $800,000 in expenses to rent and transport back and forth from the school to the track.

“Our distance runners would warm up running over a mile to Concordia,” Huskies’ Boys Distance and Cross-Country Coach Chris Baldwin who was watching his all-state runner Liam O’Connor running a workout before the meet. “Most of our student either take Pace bus to school or drive themselves. We do not have a bus system. This track is more than a convenience at this point.”

The school has hosted many meets inside the school’s fieldhouse in their 160 -meter track. This facility will be a game changer. Oak Park-River Forest will host two more meets in May in a span of two days. The Huskies will host the Boys West Suburban Conference Silver Division Meet on May 15. The following night, the Girls team will host an IHSA Sectional Qualifying Meet. We could also see an invitational meet held here in the next couple of years.

Former athletes came back to see old coaches and to check out the new digs on their old campus. Carl Heinz was a two-time State Champion in the High Jump in 2011 and in 2012 Heinz was watching the event in awe of the facilities. “I wish we had that when I was on the team,” he said. I suppose many athletes coming back will be saying the same thing.

Parking for fans will be difficult as street parking will have to be used around the neighborhoods of the school. There is plenty construction on the school campus. A new swimming pool is being put in on the southeast side of the building. The football field is torn apart to place a well field underneath for a Geothermal project that at first will heat and cook the Physical Education side of the building, the perhaps the rest of the building by 2050.

The facility has not been named yet. Maybe it could be named the track in the Oak Park Neighborhood. It could be named after one of the patriarchs of Distance Runners in the state Roy Gummerson who was a coach at the school from 1955 to 1977.

One of the coaches quipped and said, “Maybe it should be names the Tim Hasso Track.” Hasso looked back and shook his head as he walked towards his athletes. He has more worries as the team looks to defend their Class 3A IHSA team title that they shared with Edwardsville in 2024.