Renovation to Rice track and field, cross-country and soccer facility completed

NEWS RELEASE

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Renovation to Rice track and field, cross-country and soccer facility completed

HOUSTON – (Feb. 24, 2016) – Renovation of Rice University’s Wendel D. Ley Track has been completed. The $2.2 million project replaced the grandstand and added a new enclosed press box. The project also included a newly built 3,250-square-foot building for the soccer and men’s and women’s track and field and cross-country teams.

“This upgrade has been something our track and soccer programs have needed for some time, and we are grateful for the support the university has provided to bring the project to fruition,” said Joe Karlgaard, Rice’s director of athletics. “It is a terrific step forward in the quest to address the facilities needs for these programs.”

Each of the teams will have its own meeting space in the new air-conditioned facility, along with space for student-athletes to store their belongings, a weight room and restrooms.

“I’m really thankful for this progress being made,” said soccer head coach Nicky Adams. “A place to call their own is important for any team sport. The day that they (soccer student-athletes) were able to move into that facility, we saw a lot of wide eyes and big smiles. It did mean a lot for the university to back us up with this project.”

For soccer events, the facility will be referred to as Holloway Field at Wendel D. Ley Track.

The grandstand will now have assigned seating for more than 1,100 spectators, including 112-premium chair-back seats and new public restrooms. It includes a new press box, consisting of four booths and three filming platforms and a new sound system. The previous grandstand was built in 1966 on the site of Rice’s original football stadium. The new grandstand was designed by Jackson & Ryan Architects, the firm that also oversaw the renovation of Rice baseball’s Reckling Park.

Entering his 30th season at Rice as cross-country and women’s track and field coach, Jim Bevan said the renovation is a big improvement.

“This new facility does volumes better for us,” Bevan said. “It does volumes for us in the way it looks and it helps us in recruiting; it shows we’re changing with the times and moving forward.”

Men’s track and field head coach Jon Warren has been on campus since 1983, first as a student, then a volunteer coach and now head coach. He said entering the new facility is akin to walking into a new house.

“Since I’ve been here, the only change in the facility is when they added soccer in 2001, and that’s when we moved the field events outside of track,” Warren said. “In my opinion, this is the biggest change to the facility since football moved out in 1950.

“Before the renovation, it was like an old house that had some issues,” he said. “Now, it’s just wonderful; it’s going to have a big impact on our kids and on our fans. It’s almost like a rebuilt house. It’s not a bigger house, but it’s a much better house.”

Robert H. Allen, the late son-in-law of Wendel D. Ley, made a $200,000 contribution toward the renovation through his estate in memory of Ley. The university funded the rest of the project.

Over the recent years, Rice has made significant investments in improving the infrastructure for students and student-athletes alike. Rice has renovated its multipurpose arena, Tudor Fieldhouse; constructed the award-winning Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center, which replaced Rice’s 1950-era rec center; and opened the new George R. Brown Tennis Center. Construction of the Brian Patterson Sports Performance Center in the north end zone of Rice Stadium is slated to be completed in time for this year’s football events.

For more information, contact David Ruth, director of national and broadcast media at Rice, at david@rice.edu or 713-348-6327.

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Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRiceUniversity.