The honor of christening the new track at Linn-Mar High School went to the girls track team on Monday.

They loved it.

"The girls got to be the first official team on the track," said Coach Craig Pilcher. "The school board was there and they took some pictures of the girls. It was kind of a fun thing."

The new track is part of a major project on school grounds that features a new football stadium. The track has eight lanes, which means Linn-Mar can host major meets.

"They are just in awe," said Pilcher. "It is so neat. Just to walk on there and look around, and walk across the turf. And the track is so spongy compared to the rock-hard surface that we're used to. So it was just great."

The new track and football stadium replace Armstrong Field, which was flood-prone because of its proximity to Indian Creek.

Pilcher said the girls felt faster on the new track. "I think it was probably 10 seconds faster," he joked. "Of course, maybe that's just some of the adrenaline. It was good, regardless."

The track was painted once, but school officials were not satisfied and will have it painted again next week, weather permitting. They plan to host the Lion Relays on the new track on Tuesday, April 19. The facility includes an electronic timing device.

"We're hoping to have everything perfect and ready to go," said Pilcher.

Prospects for the team

He's also hoping to have his team ready to go. Linn-Mar placed 17th at the girls state track meet in 2010 and is looking to move up.

Amanda Piche is back after finishing fifth in the discus last year at 133 feet. "If she can throw like she did last year, she's going to be right up there again at the top," said Pilcher. "We're really excited about that."

Carolyn Newhouse placed second in the 3000-meter run at the state indoor meet in Cedar Falls this week in 10:24.02, the fastest time in the Mississippi Valley Conference this season. It was more than 17 seconds faster than her time at the state outdoor meet last spring when she placed 12th in 10:41.69.

Newhouse clocked her 10:24.02 on the 200-meter track in the UNI-Dome, which meant 15 laps instead of half that on an outdoor track. "That's a lot of curves," said Pilcher. "It's a good benchmark to work from."

Casey Sublett, who qualified for state in the 400 hurdles last year, is recovering from a hamstring injury and her status is undetermined as the outdoor season begins.

Courtney Major, Lauren Dalesky, Claire Meyer, Emilie Berg and Brooklyn Kascel all qualified for the state meet last year as underclassmen in relay races.