Southeast's S.P.A.C.E. nears the finish line on new track at Freedom Field

The Southeast Pirates Athletic Community Endeavor (S.P.A.C.E.) has spent well over a decade improving the district's athletic facilities.

The nonprofit group has previously provided the district with lacrosse nets and scoreboards, sand volleyball courts and concession buildings.

Now, S.P.A.C.E. president Lori Sapp said, the group is closing in on its biggest goal: a new track.

For more than a decade that new track has been a primary goal for the group, she said. For various reasons, it was never quite possible, and so the group found smaller ways to help the district.

Now, helped by a $250,000 donation from the school district and a highly successful Sportsman Raffle that netted $45,000, the group is within five figures of the new track Sapp has long sought.

"That's just a credit to Lori Sapp and our whole S.P.A.C.E. organization, all the past officers and people who have worked really, really hard at it," Southeast athletic director Pat Youel said. "I think it's going to be something that's very special for not only our track and field programs, but all of our student-athletes getting a place to work out."

The track is the biggest step, but not the only one S.P.A.C.E. has planned when it comes to renovating Freedom Field. The goal is also to revamp the concession stand, restrooms and visiting bleachers. But the track, since it is by far the largest component (estimated between $550,000 and $612,000) and thus the one that must be publicly bid on, is first priority.

At roughly $460,000 raised, S.P.A.C.E. is rounding the curve and hitting the home stretch.

Sapp's hope is to raise the money by spring so construction can occur before football season.

If not, it might have to wait a year.

"We just really need to get it going as quickly as possible," Sapp said. "That's the goal. Whether it happens this spring or next spring remains to be seen, but we're right there and we're close."

"It's just a matter of, at this point, finalizing and making sure that we have got everything ready to go, because obviously we have one shot at doing this," Youel added. "It's been a decade in the making, so we just want to make sure that everything is done right."

An aggressive final push

A year ago, Sapp was ready to give up.

With just $100,000 in the bank and a relatively small number of volunteers, a new track at Freedom Field felt as far away as ever.

"Mary Tarka and I and a couple others were just tired and couldn't do it all," Sapp said. "Plus, we do the Sportsman Raffle, which requires a lot of people to help."

Exhausted, Sapp turned to a few people around her and said she was ready to donate the $100,000 to a few smaller projects and give up on the track, unless some younger parents stepped up.

"I literally was like, I'm having a meeting on this day, and if I don't get any interest, we're going to shut it down," Sapp said. "I had 20 people show up and say they wanted to help. So we have all of these younger parents now that have young kids that they want to see this happen, and they have been extremely helpful and very informative. Just they're really go-getters, so they're out there making things happen, and that's what I needed."

As Sapp nears the finish line, she isn't letting up.

S.P.A.C.E. has no shortage of innovative ways to try to come up with the last bit of cash needed to proceed with Southeast's new track.

That includes two Morgan Wallen tickets, valued around $1,300, for which the group is selling $50 raffle tickets. (The winner is scheduled to be selected March 6 on Facebook Live.)

That also includes a wide variety of ways to sponsor a new and improved Freedom Field.

Those include everything from sponsoring the stadium's new concession stand (a $75,000 donation gets naming rights for 10 years with board approval) to sponsoring a lane of the new track (for $25,000) to purchasing a brick ($250) that will be permanently displayed at the field.

"I love our stadium, I love our field," Youel said. "That is just going to make it even more beautiful and pop even more, now that we have the new bleachers and the press box."

There are tangible reasons Sapp wants a new track for Southeast so badly.

For one, the Pirates currently have to bus their track and field team to Newton Falls for practice, after the Tigers complete their own practice.

Moreover, Portage County counterparts like Rootstown and Streetsboro recently got their own all-weather tracks, leaving Southeast as one of the county's few schools still running on cinders.

"To have the ability to just have our kids go outside, even when it's a little bit cold outside, if it's rained during the day, we're now stuck where we really can't get on our track, we can't get on the cinder track because of the mud and the muck that it will be," Youel said. "To have that [new all-weather track] on a day where we can get up there and practice, it will be game-changing for all of our coaches."

Sapp noted that a new track would not just be an asset for Southeast's track and field teams, but all of the school's athletes, as well as any community members who wanted to use it for exercise.

"The school can use it for various things, like gym and Field Day," Sapp said. "We're kind of calling it a Pirate Hub, where the parents, while they're dropping their kids off for practice, can work out. Senior citizens can take advantage of it that are in the area because I know Ravenna uses theirs that way a lot. My husband runs there every day practically, so I think it's just a huge way for people to go and utilize it with their families and not have to pay [for a gym or rec center] and not have to drive to another city."

And then there's the intangible benefit of what a new Freedom Field might mean to the community.

"It's a pride thing," Sapp said. "Southeast used to be one of the top schools in the whole area. Everybody was moving to Southeast, and then somewhere along the way we stayed in our status quo and everybody moved past us and we didn't do anything to better ourselves for a long time. And now I feel like if you have your choice of where you're going to take your kid, are you going to go where they have the new, upgraded facilities, or are you going to go to the place that has the cinder track, no field house, no upgrades?

"That's really another part of it — putting that Pirate pride back into the situation."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Southeast's S.P.A.C.E. nears finish line on new track at Freedom Field