5.5 Million Dollar Sports Complex is Coming to Eastern Iowa School

High School Athletes at Mount Vernon will soon be getting a sports facility to call their own. A 5.5 million dollar sports complex should be completed in less than 3 years according to KCRG. The complex will be built behind the school.

It's hard for me personally to decide if there's really a "home field advantage" in high school sports. I played on a pretty good baseball team my junior and senior years and I really don't believe playing at home was much different than being on the road. Some of the best memories I have are from bus rides home after a big win.

I'd even look more forward to road games when we were playing against a school that had a better field than us. I did feel there was a difference if we had to travel more than an hour for an away game. That's a long time for anyone to sit on a bus and then go out and play.

I will say, I've never had to experience traveling for a home game. They've been doing that for a long time at Mount Vernon and it only seems time for them to have a complex to call home.  KCRG spoke to the Mount Vernon Boys Track Coach, Ryan Whitman, and he is looking forward to the new facility.

They can run on an awesome facility and run some great times, I’m just really super excited for our kids to be able to that.

There has been a lot of support for this new complex and I can imagine how exciting it will be for future players and coaches alike. I'll never forget the year my school's football field had sports turf installed. The days of playing in the mud and wet grass might've been gone but at the time it felt like the coolest thing.

These days it seems like every high school has a turf field. The maintenance on a turf field is far superior to grass, it's just so much easier to keep up with that it only makes sense for schools to go this route. While support has been overwhelming for this project there are some former students who will miss how it used to be.

Greg Batenhorst is the superintendent of Mount Vernon and he spoke with KCRG and said

We totally get that, and we appreciate that because there’s a ton of history and nostalgia there. It just does not meet our needs.

There will be a turf field, a 9-lane track, and other amenities included in the complex, according to KCRG.