CHS TRACK DRIVE SLOW OUT OF GATE

Cape Girardeau Central High athletic director Terry Kitchen can't remember the last time the Tigers held a track meet on school grounds.

It speaks more for the lapse of time rather than Kitchen's lapse of memory.

"I don't think there have been any in the last 10 years, not only for the high school, but the junior high," said Kitchen.

Kitchen is hoping to change all that with the construction of a new $205,000 track facility, complete with an all-weather tartan surface.

For the record, Cape Central has been fielding track teams, and produced several athletes of note. Current Central high jumper Jay Meystedt is hoping to clear his third state championship this season.

"Our girls and boys track programs have been top notch for a while," said Central boys track coach Jerry Dement. "The last three or four years we've won about everything."

Dement is especially proud of the program, which has excelled in the face of adversity. Central often sees its own redrock track, constructed in 1954, submerged in the spring rains, rendering the facility useless. The water eventually subsides, leaving ruts in its wake.

"It was nice in 1954," said Dement. "Now compared with all the teams we compete against, it's the worst facility south of St. Louis."

Southeast Missouri State University allows Central to practice twice a week at the Abe Stuber Track and Field Complex. On the other days Central practices on its own track if weather permits, and if it's unusable either lifts weights or even practices running in the pool.

For meets, Central must either compete at an opposing school's track or host meets at Southeast. While the local university has been accommodating, Central had to hold its own Central Relays last year at Jackson High School due to a schedule conflict at Abe Stuber.

The latter incident did not sit well with Central personnel, further spurring the drive for a new track.

"We don't ask the basketball team to play on asphalt or the baseball team to play in a cow pasture," said Dement. "Why should we play somewhere else?"

Kitchen unveiled plans for a privately financed, $130,000 track at Central's spring athletic banquet last year. The overall plans called for a $206,000 complex, complete with a storage shed, fence and complete track accessories.

But the fund-raising process has proved laborious. Kitchen modeled Central's track drive after Poplar Bluff's, which privately funded a $252,000 track in about five months. Perryville constructed a $90,000 track complex in 1993 and needed just six weeks to raise the entire sum in the private sector.

Central hoped to begin construction on the facility this summer. However, just $24,000 has been raised in the past year. Last weekend Central students raised $3,700 through a run-a-thon, Making Tracks.

Unless further donations come in, construction will not begin this summer.

"To be honest, I'm a little disappointed," said Kitchen. "We put together a very good committee. I really thought more people and businesses would step forward and say, `Coach I want to help.' But I'm not going to give up. This pit bull has come too far. We're going to make it."

Thus far, the Dana Corporation's $7,500 donation is the only single donation over $2,000. Poplar Bluff received a single donation of $75,000 and Perryville received four $10,000 donations.

Central did receive good news when a local construction company bid to contract the asphalt for $39,000 less than expected, lowering the actual track price to $91,000. Kitchen said 80 to 90 percent of that total must be raised before construction can begin.

"We're at the point now where we just want to get the track," said Kitchen. "I feel if we show progress, I think people will come to our rescue.

"I wish we could get someone from our community to lead the attack and say, `Coach, we want to help,' and give a big donation."