December 01, 2024
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L-P coaches excited, grateful for sports complex upgrade

School officials, coaches, board members hold ground-breaking ceremony

By Kevin Chlum
(From left) La Salle-Peru Township High School board member Matt Merboth, superintendent Steve Wroblewski, and board member Tony Sparks speak during a ground breaking ceremony on a 9.5 million dollar addition to the La Salle-Peru Township High School Athletic Complex on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 in La Salle. This project will see the addition of competition baseball and softball diamonds, expansion of tennis courts, and installation of artificial turf to the school’s soccer field, along with expanded parking space. Additionally, restroom facilities will be added to the existing soccer field utility building and a structure will be built near the baseball/softball diamonds to serve as a concession stand, press box, and restrooms.

(From left) La Salle-Peru Township High School board member Matt Merboth, superintendent Steve Wrobleski and board president Tony Sparks speak during a ground breaking ceremony on a $9.5 million addition to the La Salle-Peru Township High School Sports Complex on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 in La Salle. This project will see the addition of baseball and softball diamonds, expansion of tennis courts and installation of artificial turf to the school’s soccer field, along with expanded parking space. Additionally, restroom facilities will be added to the existing soccer field utility building and a structure will be built near the baseball/softball diamonds to serve as a concession stand, press box and restrooms. (Scott Anderson)

Standing in a field just east of the soccer field Tuesday at the La Salle-Peru Sports Complex, L-P Superintendent Steve Wrobleski, members of the L-P Board of Education, coaches and administrators dug shovels into the ground and flung dirt in the air.

It was the symbolic start to the final stage of a project that was born about a quarter century ago.

The school will break ground on an addition to and upgrade of the sports complex next week.

The project includes the addition of a baseball field, two softball fields and four tennis courts, along with changing the soccer field to artificial turf from natural grass.

“I want to express my appreciation for the patience of some of our coaches,” Wrobleski said. “We’ve been talking for quite a few years of hopefully getting to this point where we’re in a position to be able to complete the complex. It’s hard to believe it was 25 years or so ago that a previous board of education bought all this farmland with the intent of doing what we’re doing right now. I want to give kudos to our board of education for continuing to keep the ball moving forward. It’s going to be a great opportunity for our kids.”

La Salle-Peru Township High School coaches, board members, faculty and administrators broke ground on a 9.5 million dollar addition to the La Salle-Peru Township High School Athletic Complex on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 in La Salle. This project will see the addition of competition baseball and softball diamonds, expansion of tennis courts, and installation of artificial turf to the school’s soccer field, along with expanded parking space. Additionally, restroom facilities will be added to the existing soccer field utility building and a structure will be built near the baseball/softball diamonds to serve as a concession stand, press box, and restrooms.

La Salle-Peru Township High School coaches, board members, faculty and administrators broke ground on a 9.5 million dollar addition to the La Salle-Peru Township High School Sports Complex on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 in La Salle. This project will see the addition of baseball and softball diamonds, expansion of tennis courts, and installation of artificial turf to the school’s soccer field, along with expanded parking space. Additionally, restroom facilities will be added to the existing soccer field utility building and a structure will be built near the baseball/softball diamonds to serve as a concession stand, press box and restrooms. (Scott Anderson)

The project will give the Cavaliers baseball team a home owned by the school after playing at various city parks over the years, including Washington Park in Peru, Veterans Park in Peru and Dickinson Field in Oglesby.

“The kids are extremely excited about it,” L-P baseball coach Matt Glupczynski said. “As coaches, we’re really excited about it. Being an [alumnus] of this program, being here for about 25 years, it’s nice to see it come full circle on us to have our own field. It’s going to bring more pride to the program than what we already have. Being able to come out here every single day to have practice and games, the kids are just ecstatic.”

The softball team also will be getting a home owned by the school after years of playing at Veterans Park.

“It means a lot just to have our own spot to go to every day,” L-P softball coach Randy Huebbe said. “We appreciate what Peru did for us all these years, but it’s pretty busy over there now, and this helps a lot. With practice time, we won’t have to schedule anything to be here. We just come up and we know it’s ours. We’ll have our equipment up here. It takes the pressure off and helps the coaching a lot.

“[The players] are looking forward to it.”

Here, looking north from Victoria Drive shows where phase two of the La Salle-Peru Township High School Athletic Complex on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 in La Salle. This project will see the addition of competition baseball and softball diamonds, expansion of tennis courts, and installation of artificial turf to the school’s soccer field, along with expanded parking space. Additionally, restroom facilities will be added to the existing soccer field utility building and a structure will be built near the baseball/softball diamonds to serve as a concession stand, press box, and restrooms. The $9.5 million project is being completed without any increase to the community’s tax bill.

Here, looking north from Victoria Drive shows where phase two of the La Salle-Peru Township High School Sports Complex on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 in La Salle. This project will see the addition of competition baseball and softball diamonds, expansion of tennis courts, and installation of artificial turf to the school’s soccer field, along with expanded parking space. Additionally, restroom facilities will be added to the existing soccer field utility building and a structure will be built near the baseball/softball diamonds to serve as a concession stand, press box, and restrooms. The $9.5 million project is being completed without any increase to the community’s tax bill. (Scott Anderson)

For the boys and girls tennis programs, coach Aaron Guenther said the expansion from eight courts to 12 – along with the resurfacing of the original courts – should increase opportunities to host events, including possible IHSA sectionals.

“It’s going to give us a great playing field,” said Guenther, who noted having 12 courts is a rarity outside the Chicago suburbs. “The additional four courts, I think, is huge for the program because it’s going to allow us to get more kids on the court. It’s going to allow for tournament changes where we can now host more tournaments or we can change the format so more kids are getting to play. I’m hoping to get some city rec out here so we can not just have youth programs, but also maybe even get some adult programs going.

“I think it’s big for L-P tennis, but I also think it’s big for the L-P community as a whole.”

L-P boys soccer coach David Spudic said the turf – along with the larger field size coming with it – will have multiple benefits for the boys and girls programs.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Spudic said. “Not only are we getting turf, but we’re getting a larger field size, which is going to help both the boys and girls programs. We have full varsity and JV squads, so it’s going to allow us the opportunity to get everybody on the field at one time together.

“It’s going to give us a consistent bounce with the field, so it’s really going to be a true home-field advantage with the larger field and the natural roll of the ball on the field. We can play on it every day and not have to worry about the field breaking down.”

L-P girls soccer coach Christin Pappas agreed it will be a home-field advantage getting to practice on the field daily and learning how the ball rolls and bounces. Having seen injuries over the years, Pappas said she also feels a consistently flat surface that turf provides could cut those down.

“It’s a dream come true,” Pappas said. “I’m grateful for the community and the board. For our program going forward, I think it will be a huge advantage and draw to our soccer program to be able to have this amazing turf.”

The project will cost $9.5 million. Byrne & Jones Construction out of St. Louis will manage the project, with opportunities for local laborers and contractors to complete subcontracted pieces of the project.

The construction/renovation is expected to be completed by the 2023-24 school year.

“Next week there’s going to be a lot of action out here,” L-P Board of Education President Tony Sparks said. “We’re happy as a board and district to be able to complete this. We did the first part 10 or 11 years ago, and here we are ready to finish the job. We appreciate the support that made this happen. It’s a good thing for our community, and especially our student-athletes who are going to get really good use out of it.”