TEMPE – After nearly six years of service, the Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium is receiving a state-of-the-art upgrade for the 2018 season, director of track and field Greg Kraft announced Monday.
The project will begin later this week and the new nine-lane track is expected to be installed by mid-January, giving the Sun Devils three months on the new surface before they unveil it to the rest of the track and field community at the Baldy Castillo Invitational March 16.
"Getting a new facility or new track anytime is a special event, and I think it just reinforces the commitment that Ray Anderson has toward all Olympic sports at Arizona State," Kraft said. "I think sometimes – and deservedly so – projects like the reinvention of our football stadium get a lot of attention, but what Ray has done with our Olympic sports shows that he has a serious commitment to all of them, and I appreciate that. Our student-athletes deserve it and it was duly noted."
The new surface will come from world-renowned sports and flooring company Mondo, an Italian powerhouse in the track and field world that has surfaces on tracks from Athens, Georgia, to London Stadium, which has hosted an Olympics and IAAF World Championships in the past five years.
"There was a vetting process that senior administrators did, but, for us, Mondo has been a company that has really stood by their product and when we thought things weren't right, they'd come in and address it in a timely manner," Kraft said. "I appreciate Mondo for stepping up. It really speaks to their commitment to their products and their conviction that it's more than a business relationship."
Joe Selleh Track's new oval embraces a goal of innovation that ASU President Michael Crow has promoted during his tenure. It is a remodel that will see a change in more than 100,000 square feet at Sun Angel Stadium.
"Getting a new track is instrumental to the program," sprints coach Devin West said. "The things that we're going to be able to do from a training standpoint will greatly enhance our program and allow us to continue to grow."
Mondo's Sportflex Super X 720 surface has IAAF certification, and a Greenguard certification for environmental friendliness as it is made with 42 percent recycled post-consumer and post-industrial material, and 6 percent renewable resources.
The perfect combination of comfort and performance, the surface combines Mondo's classic directional texture in rubber on the top layer, with elongated honeycomb technology and hexagonal air cells for shock absorbency and kinetic thrust underneath.
Sun Angel Stadium will abandon the typical clay coloring for a more-sleek and heat repelling gray with gold accents.
"Gray with gold is different, and we want to stand out," West said. "This program is about standing out and doing things differently. This athletic department has expressed that, too."
Demolition of the current track will begin Dec. 12 and installation of the new surface will commence in the new year.
"We're extremely excited for this upgrade," West said. "Our recruits are going to be able to see a top-notch facility that rivals any facility in the country as far as a surface standpoint, and we're looking forward to embracing it and taking a lot of pride in the facility. We're looking forward to hosting some world-class meets and displaying some world-class talent here at ASU."
The project will begin later this week and the new nine-lane track is expected to be installed by mid-January, giving the Sun Devils three months on the new surface before they unveil it to the rest of the track and field community at the Baldy Castillo Invitational March 16.
"Getting a new facility or new track anytime is a special event, and I think it just reinforces the commitment that Ray Anderson has toward all Olympic sports at Arizona State," Kraft said. "I think sometimes – and deservedly so – projects like the reinvention of our football stadium get a lot of attention, but what Ray has done with our Olympic sports shows that he has a serious commitment to all of them, and I appreciate that. Our student-athletes deserve it and it was duly noted."
The new surface will come from world-renowned sports and flooring company Mondo, an Italian powerhouse in the track and field world that has surfaces on tracks from Athens, Georgia, to London Stadium, which has hosted an Olympics and IAAF World Championships in the past five years.
"There was a vetting process that senior administrators did, but, for us, Mondo has been a company that has really stood by their product and when we thought things weren't right, they'd come in and address it in a timely manner," Kraft said. "I appreciate Mondo for stepping up. It really speaks to their commitment to their products and their conviction that it's more than a business relationship."
Joe Selleh Track's new oval embraces a goal of innovation that ASU President Michael Crow has promoted during his tenure. It is a remodel that will see a change in more than 100,000 square feet at Sun Angel Stadium.
"Getting a new track is instrumental to the program," sprints coach Devin West said. "The things that we're going to be able to do from a training standpoint will greatly enhance our program and allow us to continue to grow."
Mondo's Sportflex Super X 720 surface has IAAF certification, and a Greenguard certification for environmental friendliness as it is made with 42 percent recycled post-consumer and post-industrial material, and 6 percent renewable resources.
The perfect combination of comfort and performance, the surface combines Mondo's classic directional texture in rubber on the top layer, with elongated honeycomb technology and hexagonal air cells for shock absorbency and kinetic thrust underneath.
Sun Angel Stadium will abandon the typical clay coloring for a more-sleek and heat repelling gray with gold accents.
"Gray with gold is different, and we want to stand out," West said. "This program is about standing out and doing things differently. This athletic department has expressed that, too."
Demolition of the current track will begin Dec. 12 and installation of the new surface will commence in the new year.
"We're extremely excited for this upgrade," West said. "Our recruits are going to be able to see a top-notch facility that rivals any facility in the country as far as a surface standpoint, and we're looking forward to embracing it and taking a lot of pride in the facility. We're looking forward to hosting some world-class meets and displaying some world-class talent here at ASU."