Health issues have kept Romalisa Hendrix Williams from attending most track meets in recent years, despite the fact she had family members competing for Trigg County.
Romalisa and her sister Margaret were both members of the last Trigg County girls’ track team to win the state championship. That was in 1983. On Monday, they were both at Perdue Field cheering on family and members of the current Trigg track teams. It was the first track meet at Perdue Field in 12 years.
The sisters, along with several other former Trigg County track and field athletes, were in disbelief when they saw the deteriorating condition of the school’s track – the same track that is home to eight state championships for the school. No other sport has won more than three.
Cracks large enough to house growing grass and unkept long jump pits made hosting a track meet at Trigg County a thing of the past. Gone were the days of the Radford/Wallace Invitational at Perdue Field. Also gone was the advantage of running a meet in front of a large contingent of family and friends. Until Monday.
Imagine the public outcry if patches of concrete on the playing surface made the football or soccer fields unplayable to the point of playing 12 straight seasons of road games.
The outcry was loud enough that the Trigg County Board of Education voted last year to upgrade the track’s surface and build a new high jump area that meets standards. No more grass-filled cracks or long jump pits filled with weeds, sand, and dirt.
If you looked around the stands Monday for Trigg’s County quad meet with Livingston Central and Dawson Springs, it was a who’s who in Wildcat track history.
In addition to the Hendrix sisters, Janada Acree was there with a particular interest in the high jump. She shares the school record in the event at 5-feet, 2-inches. She competed in the 2007 Radford/Wallace Invitational – the last track meet held at Perdue Field until Monday. She won the 400-meters that day and finished second in the high jump.
Melissa Thompson Brown was there. Some consider her the best female athlete of the 1980s at Trigg County. She won a state title in the 200 meters in 1981 and finished second at the state meet three other times.
Former coach James Shelton was also there. He was helping run the high jump. He coached Trigg County’s girls to a state runner-up finish in 2001 and a third place finish the following year. Shelton was also the coach in 2007 when Trigg last hosted a home meet.
Several other track and field standouts of the past were at Perdue Field as well. Some to watch family members compete. Others to just take in the event.
Just how important are the track renovations? Trigg Coach Matt McMain said there were 12 athletes on the previous year’s roster when he became track and field coach in 2018. He said he has over 40 athletes this year in addition to a middle school team. Being able to have home meets will help foster that growth.
The renovations are important to a school system that boasts some of the oldest on-campus facilities in the Second Region. Perdue Field was built in 1971. Wildcat Gym was completed nine years earlier. Because of their land-locked locations, renovations and improvements have made it tough to keep up with modern facilities at other schools. But it doesn’t mean some things can’t be done to give the athletes a source of pride of where they play.
The new track surface at Perdue Field is just the beginning. Other needs at the football field include new bathrooms, a new concession stand and press box, and either a new fence or the removal of the fence that surrounds the field.
Wildcat Gym is also in need of some work, to include the restrooms, an enlarged lobby area, and replacing the oldest court surface in the region.
The baseball, softball, and soccer fields are located off-campus and are owned and maintained by the county, not the school. But they need work as well.
A school’s athletic facilities are the showpiece, not only of the school, but the town and county as well. Less than 20 people from Caldwell County have ever been inside a classroom or the library at Trigg County High School. 75 times that total come to watch their football and basketball teams play here. A school should be proud of their athletic facilities. So should the athletes.
Let’s hope the response shown by the community Monday at Perdue Field as a result of the school system’s commitment to the track is the first step to bigger and better things in the near future.
(Scott Brown is the sports editor at YourSportsEdge.com, a Trigg County High School graduate, and keeper of history concerning Trigg County and Second Region athletics)