Anyone who’s driven by Kiefer High School on 151st Street has probably noticed some construction going on at the football field. Thanks to the $29 million bond that local voters approved in April 2022, there are a number of significant athletic facility upgrades underway.
At the football field, new bleachers have been in the process of being installed on the “home” side of the stands, with an upgraded press box planned, while a new press box is also going in on the other side of the bleachers as well.
There are quite a few renovations underway on the Trojan baseball and softball fields, and an entirely new activity center is going to be built on an open field nearby. A new agricultural facility has already been completed beyond the softball field.
Kiefer athletic director Trent Worley is excited about all the changes, even if it complicates things right now during Summer Pride workouts.
“We’ve got construction everywhere,” he said. “We just poured the concrete and (built) new bleachers for baseball/softball. We’ve cut the fence (in right field of the baseball field) and pushed it out, so we got a bullpen area, but then also, we’re going to put bleachers down both baselines. The (new) press boxes, they’re on a trailer in the parking lot, so they both go here and obviously, the football field’s got new home stands, and they’ll have a 40-foot press box. And then our maintenance guys are building one on the visitors’ side that we haven’t had before. So there’s a lot going on.”
Worley is also excited about the upcoming activity center, which will serve a number of different purposes and is currently slated to open in January 2025.
“That will be the next ground-breaking,” Worley said. “We’ll have a three-section activity center. The far east section will be a competition gym. It won’t be quite like our Event Center gym, but we’ll be able to play split-site junior high nights there. Then the center section will be dedicated to our band program and cheer/pom programs, in addition to some locker rooms. And then the far west section will be an indoor space with a weight room on down the sideline, a new football locker room, and this closest corner will be a new softball and baseball concession and bathrooms, so we’ll be tying everything together.”
The baseball and softball renovations have forced the Kiefer summer schedules for those sports to be played entirely on the road, but baseball and softball coach Sheldon Fairchild is excited for the kids to eventually play on the finished products. With the fast pitch softball season starting just over a month away, there’s a lot to do in a short period of time to get that field game-ready.
“Right now, there’s a lot of construction going on and I think it’ll pay off in a couple of years,” Fairchild said. “We’re fixing to take down our nets because we got new nets. We’ve got to get the bleachers and the press box and everything. And once they get all that done, they’ve got to dress (the softball field) up. We’re going to try to get some loads of sand, get some low spots in our outfield and then we’re going to try to get a deal for crushed brick for our infield. We’re fixing to put up a new fence, so we got all kinds of stuff going on that we’re trying to get everything done before July 27 when we really kick off.
“Then after we get through softball, then we’re going to try to do the same stuff on the baseball field. The priority right now is to get this one done and then move to that one.”
While the disruptions now are a minor inconvenience, Worley is excited about what the final results will look like and is happy with the continuing growth.
“It’s visually appealing to people when they drive by on 151st Street,” Worley said. “It’s the direction we’re moving, because we’re a growing district, and our tax base and voters are helping us with that, so that’s super-valuable for us.”
And after a highly successful 2022-23 sports season for Kiefer athletics that may rank among the best ever in school history, newer and more advanced facilities can only help the cause moving forward. Last school year saw such highlights as the Trojan football team going 11-2 and reaching the Class 3A state quarterfinals, the girls’ basketball squad advancing to the 3A state semifinals, the fast pitch team going 28-6 and reaching the state quarterfinals, the girls’ cross country team placing fourth in the 3A state meet (and Shayna Hendrix placing second individually) and girls’ track and field placing fifth – its highest-ever finish at the 3A state meet.
“Overall, we had a heck of a year, as far as Kiefer goes,” Fairchild said. “The football team made it to Thanksgiving, softball made it for the first time ever to the state tournament, boys’ basketball got beat in the Area Tournament, we had some track people go to the state tournament, and we (baseball) finished 19-13, so overall, it was a pretty good year.”
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Photos:
IMG_1914 cut line: Workers installing the new Kiefer home side football field bleachers
IMG_1924 cut line: Construction continues at the baseball field
IMG_1925: A Bobcat sits in front of the new press boxes intended for the baseball and softball fields
