Back On Track - East Mills Breaks In New Athletic Complex By Hosting First Track Meet In 13 Years

MALVERN - On Thursday the East Mills Middle-High School hosted its first varsity track and field meet in over 4,000 days.

The East Mills Co-ed Track and Field meet brought teams from Fremont-Mills, Sidney and Southwest Valley to Malvern to compete for the first meet on the school’s track since 2013. The former, outdated track was replaced along with the addition of a new grass football field and bleachers late last year.

While the Wolverine football team wasn’t able to christen the new stadium last season, the track team got that honor this spring.

The antiquated cinder, gravel-like surface of the old track and not being able to use blocks and hurdles made practices and preparing for meets challenging for East Mills track coach Trenton Turney over the years.

“We had to practice with older equipment that was specific to cinder, so we were a little outdated with equipment,” Turney said. “It is also nice having everything in one area, we used to have to practice high jump in the weight room and now we can freely do that on the field. So, being able to see everyone in a bird’s eye view is something we are happy about.”

The track and football athletic complex project puts a cap on more than four years of work that began on the campus after district voters approved a $22 million bond issue to upgrade, renovate and modernize the building and campus. The consolidated K-12 school opened for students in August 2024.

Construction began on the campus in October 2022. Omaha-based Boyd Jones served as the construction management firm, coordinating the more than 15 subcontractors working on the project. Omaha-based firm Alley Poyner Macchietto was the architect on the facelift to the existing high school and middle school – originally built in the 1960s – and the attached elementary addition.

The project was a near complete overhaul of the Malvern school’s campus. Its footprint was substantially changed with its new paved parking lots, new entrances and exits and road access. The school building itself, which doubled the size of the former building, features a new elementary wing on the southside of the existing building with dozens of new classrooms in addition to a new a gymnasium and weight room, commons area and updated school and administration offices and secure entrances. The finished school has a capacity for up to 750 students and is also now completely Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant with an elevator, ramps and wide doorways.

The athletic facility was built with the aid of district Physical Plant and Equipment Levy dollars. The eight-lane, crumb-rubber track surface is durable, shock-absorbent and porous for drainage, but solid enough for non-slip traction that when well-maintained has a functional lifespan of 20 to 30 years.

“This is a project that always seemed to be on the back burner, but with all the construction it seemed our board members were ready to help complete our campus update,” said East Mills activities director Matt Thornburg.  “Not being able to host was hard as we had a very good crew of individuals who took pride in running a smooth efficient track meet.  Towards the last few track meets we hosted we realized that the trend was teams were wanting to only run on all weather tracks.”   

Work on the track and the football field was delayed first while a stage was constructed in the gym back in 2010. Then, there was a delay in the school project construction phase due to budget issues that were later resolved. Shortly before then opening of the building in 2024, then superintendent Tim Hood told The Opinion-Tribune the “project was completed on budget.”
East Mills Superintendent Mike Brown was hired in April 2024 – his is a position that is shared with the Sidney Community School District – late in the construction process. He replaced Hood in the job, who remained on as the district’s Special Project Coordinator through the completion of construction.

“As far as the school and the athletic facilities, it feels like everything is back to normal and running well,” Brown said. “Parking is working itself out. We have a good flow to things now and people have learned where to park and where to go.”
Brown puts East Mills’ top-notch facilities and building up there with any in the area in quality.

“Everyone I’ve talked to is very happy with the results, the building, the football field, the stadium, the track,” he said. “It was something Malvern needed. Now we’re just hoping for some new housing developments to get done and move more people into the area.”

The athletic facility hosted a middle school track and field meet April 14. Call it a sort of “dress rehearsal” for the varsity meet, Brown said.

“It was nice to be able to have that and work out some bugs,” he added.

Brown could add coaches and athletes to the list of those most happy with the finished facility.

Turney, the Wolverines’ track coach, saw an uptick in roster numbers on both the girls and boys track and field rosters this spring that he attributes to the improvements.

“I think having a brand-new facility has helped them want to continue to run and get better,” he said. “The throwing area for our field events is also nice, and I would say we now have one of the best facilities, if not the best in the Corner Conference, for having all eight lanes on the whole track.”

Thursday’s meet was the lone home varsity meet for the Wolverines this season. But Turney said, after a long hiatus, he could see the school hosting more events down the road, perhaps even the Corner Conference Track and Field Meet.

“I think that the meet that we ran went very well and smooth and we received a lot of positive praise from other coaches,” Turney said. “I also think it will make other teams want to come visit and run at our meet to make it grow.”

The athletic complex isn’t quite the final project on the district’s mind.

Brown said the district will close soon on a parcel of land directly to the east of the football field. The “triangle” of land currently owned by the Zanders Family Farm Trust, currently houses a machine shed and a handful of grain bins and has access to the gravel road from the 14th Street cutoff road along the southern edge of the school campus.

The district intends to build a 10,000 square foot bus barn for its 12-bus fleet as well as an auxiliary parking for the athletic complex on the site.

But, Brown said, that project is at least a year away.

“We need to see where we are with our finances and do some more planning before we dive in on that project,” he said.