With varsity, club and intramural sports well underway into their fall season, student athletes should be aware of some changes and improvements to the University of Wisconsin La Crosse’s athletic facilities in the coming years.

One improvement students have already experienced is the new synthetic turf soccer field just north of Roger Harring Stadium, behind Reuter Hall. This field will be used for both UWL Soccer and the Recreational Sports Department.

“The new synthetic turf soccer field is necessary because we have started planning for the new Fieldhouse which will go where the old grass soccer field was located,” explained Executive Director of Facilities Planning and Management, Dr. Doug Pearson. “The new turf field reduced maintenance cost and increases the amount of recreational activities.”

The campuses current Fieldhouse, Mitchell Hall, which currently hosts the Track and Field team, Basketball, Swimming, Volleyball and Intramurals is 52 years old. As of this year some teams have moved out of Mitchell Fieldhouse until the new Fieldhouse is completed.

Wrestling has moved its practices in Cartwright Center where the old bookstore used to reside. Gymnastics is currently practices in Wittich Hall and both sports will hold official competitions in Mitchell Hall.

According to Dr. Pearson, the new Fieldhouse is about two years from breaking ground as they are in planning phases right now.

After the completion on the new Fieldhouse, “Mitchell Hall will be divided into three (spaces), used as a permanent gymnastics, Exercise and Sport Science (ESS) area and Wrestling room,” said Pearson.

Another plan in the works is the Wittich Hall renovation starting summer of 2019 becoming the new home of the College of Business Administration (CBA), according the Dr. Pearson.

These plans set to start before the new Fieldhouse is complete Gymnastics will have to find another temporary home. According to Pearson, that is most likely to be the old Valhalla assembly room in the Cartwright Center.

Another big project worth $8 million that will begin this fall is the addition to the Recreational Eagle Center. The project will add an additional 30,000 square feet with a new fitness center on the first floor and a multi-purpose room on the second floor.

University of Wisconsin System schools are usually compared academically but as facilities go, Pearson believed UWL’s Mitchell Hall is not up to standard. Although he states the soccer field and football stadium are comparable, Mitchell Hall is an old building that needs lots of work and once sports are out of Mitchell for competition and practice, UWL will be comparable with other UW schools.

In the upcoming years, UWL will see many changes, from building being built and being torn down to being gutted out and redesigned. In the end UWL will still be within the bounds of State Street and the marsh, but will look completely different from what it did 10 years ago.