What started last spring will be coming to a finish very soon.

The highly-anticipated track portion of the Track and Field/Soccer Complex is a few minor details away from being completed and everyone couldn’t be happier.

“It was built pretty quick, and we are very fortunate,” said Sue Hansfield, assistant athletic director of facilities and event operations.

The impact will be the greatest for Connie Teaberry, track and field head coach.

“It will aid us tremendously in our training throughout the entire year,” Teaberry said. “Over 80 percent of Division I colleges have outdoor tracks and it’s very important for us to stay competitive with them.”

Teaberry also went on to say that the new facility will help for recruiting because some recruits will be used to performing on outdoor tracks at their high schools.

All events will be available at the new complex including an eight-lane track, a high jump area, a pole vault area, three jump pits, two shot put rings, a hammer/discus ring and a javelin runway. The track is made of a material that will help it hold up against the rain and snow.

The new layout gives NIU the ability to hold track and field events at the same time so there are no issues with the length of the meet, but that’s not all.

“This enables us to still have track events going simultaneously with the field events as far as the throws,” Teaberry said. “It’s more of a safety issue. The timeline is actually second so this way we do not have to hold up the ring events or the jumping events in order to wait for the throwing events, such as the discus and the hammer, to conclude.”

With snow currently covering the track, the last task for the project is on hold. The track is currently missing lanes and the wait will end once the weather gets better.

“In spring, we need to stripe the track,” Hansfield said. “It’ll be done once the snow melts, but we just need a couple of 50-degree days to do it.”

The complex will be ready to host the Huskies’ last meet of the outdoor season on Saturday, May 9 for the Northern Illinois Open.