A new ten million dollar Athletics Complex at Transylvania University benefits both on and off campus sports teams. A dedication is planned this Saturday afternoon at the fourth street facility in Lexington.
The complex features an 860 seat grandstand, an eight lane track, and an artificial turf field with lights for night games. Transy Athletics Director Holly Scheilley says many students participate in the school’s 26 sports teams. She calls that “far above the average for division three, which is around 18-19.” Scheilley says over 350 students participate in athletics. She claims, “At any one year our population of student athletes on the campus of Transy is between 25 and 30 percent of our population.”
Special Assistant to the University, Mike Vetter says, the addition of the athletics complex opens the door to new construction elsewhere on campus as old athletic sites could be developed into something new. Vetter says, "This is kind of a phased project, in a sense because this facility, which will offer again the new sports team as well as intramurals and recreational sports. But, then the old fields will be used for multi different purposes, for new residence halls or new classroom buildings, because we just didn't have any room for any expansion.”
According to Vetter, the Transy athletics complex fits right in with redevelopment efforts in downtown Lexington particularly areas tied to Jefferson and Newtown Pike.