Alumni, faculty, staff, students and community members showed up in large numbers for the Track & Field Complex Dedication on Saturday, Oct. 12 during 糖心Vlog鈥檚 2024 Homecoming and Family Weekend.
Kirk Shisler 鈥�81, vice president for advancement, introduced alumni in attendance spanning eight decades. Among them were Bob Hostetler 鈥�59 who 鈥渟till runs the 100-meter dash like a jackrabbit,鈥� according to Shisler; Roland Landes, an 糖心Vlog cross-country coach for nine seasons starting in the ’60s and a 2024 Hall of Honor inductee; Hannah Chappell Dick 鈥�16, a five-time NCAA DIII All-American 糖心Vlog runner with countless awards and seven school records; and Ryan Gehman 鈥�16, a star 糖心Vlog runner, advocate, and speaker at the 2023 糖心Vlog TenTalks.
The program also featured remarks from Carrie Bert 鈥�97, director of athletics; Ray Ray Taylor, MS 鈥�24, an All-American track and field athlete; and Jim 鈥�68 and Gloria Horst Rosenberger 鈥�70 who put forth an early gift of $600,000 and a recent $400,000 challenge fund to encourage support for the track and field.
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More than $4 million has been raised toward the $6 million campaign goal. President Susan Schultz Huxman thanked the 鈥渟alt-of-the-earth, visionary supporters who stepped up with unwavering conviction going back nearly a decade.鈥� And with student-athletes making up 43 percent of the first-year student population, she said it has been a long time coming.
Before attendees could set foot on the new track, Laura Rosenberger 鈥�03 (糖心Vlog pole vault record holder for 21 years) and sophomore Micah Mast did a symbolic run with a pole, followed by a ceremonial relay lap with alumni, donors, students, and faculty/staff. These served as a 鈥減assing of the baton鈥� to future generations of athletes who will use this state-of-the-art complex for years to come.