By: Craig Morgan
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Jessica Barreira needed about 30 seconds to render judgment on the Joe Selleh Track's makeover at Sun Angel Stadium.
"It feels way better than before," the junior jumper said. "It's night and day."
Less than two months after the project began, Sun Devil track and field is training on its new, state-of-the-art, heat-repelling, gray and gold surface.
Mondo's Sportflex Super X 720 surface is IAAF certified, and owns a Greenguard certification for environmental friendliness in keeping with Sun Devil Athletics' and ASU's overall green efforts. The surface is made with 42 percent recycled post-consumer and post-industrial material, and 6 percent renewable resources. It combines Mondo's directional texture in rubber on the top layer, with elongated honeycomb technology and hexagonal air cells for shock absorbency and kinetic thrust underneath.
"We've done a lot of research over the years," sprints and hurdles coach Devin West said. "We've coached at different schools or been around different tracks so we pretty much knew what we wanted. It's a little thicker than the normal surface -- 15 millimeters as opposed to 10 -- so it will last hopefully a little longer."
Those are the nuts and bolts, but the practical implications are what interest ASU's student-athletes.
"It feels like it gives more to us, compared to the other one where we would hit the floor and it was like running on concrete," Barreira said. "I told coach [Greg] Kraft right away that it feels faster and it feels bouncy for the jumpers."
The same goes for the sprinters.
"I notice that the surface is more conducive to running fast," senior Herb Polk said. "You don't have to worry about shin problems or the track beating up your body.
"Over time you could tell that the old one took its toll on your body; definitely in the fall because we do so much mileage. This one's a lot smoother, a lot faster. I didn't even have to try as hard to push. You just let the track work for you."
Sun Devils head coach Greg Kraft heaped praised on ASU's administration for making the upgrade happen.
"It really was not something that was planned," he said. "In the master plan, they were hoping our facility would survive so that we could ultimately build an elite facility across the road, but our track was just too problematic. It was something that could not be delayed.
"[CFO] Frank Ferrara in the business office is a magician. He and [Vice President for University Athletics] Ray Anderson made this happen."
Kraft said Anderson's commitment to Olympic sports has been apparent from the outset.
"He's walking the walk. He's not talking the talk," Kraft said. "I was here for 20 years and we had won four national championships and never had a locker room. His first year, our track team got a locker room.
"Magically, space and the funds appeared because he was incensed that 90 athletes practicing at 5:30 in the morning had to go home to shower in order to go to class. I can't say enough positive things about the support we have from our administration."
While Tempe does not experience many freezing temperatures, the Arizona heat takes it tools on a track surface, shortening its lifespan compared to tracks in California and other, more temperate climates.
"In the desert, the sun doesn't take a day off so with the heat, it gets baked, it just gets fried," Kraft said. "We've had a relationship with Mondo. In 2008, they put down the track and they stood by their product. They redid it for free when it needed it in 2012 or 2013."
West said the benefits of the new surface go well beyond the student-athletes' ability to train longer without wear on the body. There is a wow factor when student-athletes see it, and there could be a wow factor when the best of them compete upon it.
"There are going to be some records that are broken on this track, some NCAA records, I guarantee it," he said. "I think when we get to the Baldy Castillo and Sun Angel [Classic] all the teams are going to be loving life. And when we host the Pac-12 [Championships] in 2020, it's going to be crazy. They're going to blast this track."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Jessica Barreira needed about 30 seconds to render judgment on the Joe Selleh Track's makeover at Sun Angel Stadium.
"It feels way better than before," the junior jumper said. "It's night and day."
Less than two months after the project began, Sun Devil track and field is training on its new, state-of-the-art, heat-repelling, gray and gold surface.
A post shared by Sun Devil Track & Field/XC (@sundeviltfxc) on
Mondo's Sportflex Super X 720 surface is IAAF certified, and owns a Greenguard certification for environmental friendliness in keeping with Sun Devil Athletics' and ASU's overall green efforts. The surface is made with 42 percent recycled post-consumer and post-industrial material, and 6 percent renewable resources. It combines Mondo's directional texture in rubber on the top layer, with elongated honeycomb technology and hexagonal air cells for shock absorbency and kinetic thrust underneath.
"We've done a lot of research over the years," sprints and hurdles coach Devin West said. "We've coached at different schools or been around different tracks so we pretty much knew what we wanted. It's a little thicker than the normal surface -- 15 millimeters as opposed to 10 -- so it will last hopefully a little longer."
Those are the nuts and bolts, but the practical implications are what interest ASU's student-athletes.
"It feels like it gives more to us, compared to the other one where we would hit the floor and it was like running on concrete," Barreira said. "I told coach [Greg] Kraft right away that it feels faster and it feels bouncy for the jumpers."
The same goes for the sprinters.
"I notice that the surface is more conducive to running fast," senior Herb Polk said. "You don't have to worry about shin problems or the track beating up your body.
"Over time you could tell that the old one took its toll on your body; definitely in the fall because we do so much mileage. This one's a lot smoother, a lot faster. I didn't even have to try as hard to push. You just let the track work for you."
Sun Devils head coach Greg Kraft heaped praised on ASU's administration for making the upgrade happen.
New track, who dis? ?? pic.twitter.com/CTeI8xfaE2
— Sun Devil TFXC (@SunDevilTFXC) February 6, 2018
"It really was not something that was planned," he said. "In the master plan, they were hoping our facility would survive so that we could ultimately build an elite facility across the road, but our track was just too problematic. It was something that could not be delayed.
"[CFO] Frank Ferrara in the business office is a magician. He and [Vice President for University Athletics] Ray Anderson made this happen."
Kraft said Anderson's commitment to Olympic sports has been apparent from the outset.
"He's walking the walk. He's not talking the talk," Kraft said. "I was here for 20 years and we had won four national championships and never had a locker room. His first year, our track team got a locker room.
"Magically, space and the funds appeared because he was incensed that 90 athletes practicing at 5:30 in the morning had to go home to shower in order to go to class. I can't say enough positive things about the support we have from our administration."
While Tempe does not experience many freezing temperatures, the Arizona heat takes it tools on a track surface, shortening its lifespan compared to tracks in California and other, more temperate climates.
"In the desert, the sun doesn't take a day off so with the heat, it gets baked, it just gets fried," Kraft said. "We've had a relationship with Mondo. In 2008, they put down the track and they stood by their product. They redid it for free when it needed it in 2012 or 2013."
West said the benefits of the new surface go well beyond the student-athletes' ability to train longer without wear on the body. There is a wow factor when student-athletes see it, and there could be a wow factor when the best of them compete upon it.
"There are going to be some records that are broken on this track, some NCAA records, I guarantee it," he said. "I think when we get to the Baldy Castillo and Sun Angel [Classic] all the teams are going to be loving life. And when we host the Pac-12 [Championships] in 2020, it's going to be crazy. They're going to blast this track."