SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- A newer and bluer day has dawned for Mount Holyoke College athletics, particularly its field hockey, lacrosse and track and field teams.
And bluer is a very good thing, judging by the enthusiasm of the sizable crowd that witnessed the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly resurfaced MHC Turf & Track Complex.
After a summer's worth of construction work by R.A.D. Sports of Rockland, Mass., the red track and green playing field of the recent past have been transformed into an immaculate carpet reflecting, everywhere, brilliant shades of blue.
"This complex will be, for years to come, a recruiting magnet, and one that our student-athletes will look fondly upon in their remembrances of their playing days," said the college's new director of athletics and physical education, Jodi Canfield, at the Sept. 8 ribbon-cutting event before a crowd of student-athletes, faculty and other Lyons supporters.
The Lyons' AD stood in the middle of the new, light-blue, 10-lane straightaway of the outdoor track and field team's new digs, a 13mm Beynon oval resurfaced with light blue lanes and accented sharply by dark blue lanes in the three relay exchange zones.
Behind Canfield stretched the ocean blue PolyGrass playing surface, bookended by "MOUNT HOLYOKE" and "LYONS" end zones, that becomes the new home of the college's field hockey and lacrosse teams.
The occasion moved Canfield to remember her own days as a lacrosse and tennis student-athlete at St. Lawrence University. "I live right there, in that brown house," she said, pointing to her trackside abode. "I love looking out at this complex, and I wish that I had something this sharp during my playing days.
"Competing on this track and field complex will be a point of pride for our student-athletes."