The first time Kelsey Rubeor stepped into the nearly renovated Manley Field House, she burst into tears.

What had been her home for the past three years transformed into something she didn’t recognize. The Manley she knew was gone, replaced by a facility she didn’t even fully realize was coming.

‘I actually cried. I’ll be honest. I’m not a teary person,’ said Rubeor, a multi-event athlete on the Syracuse track and field team. ‘To have something that was so concrete in my mind be so drastically different was a huge ‘oh my gosh.’ The fact that there wasn’t a track here was like an anxiety attack to that. It was a very emotional reaction.’

A track was eventually laid down, which Rubeor said was a sigh of relief. Still, Manley was different from what Rubeor and other SU athletes grew familiar with over their careers.

The old Manley had a regulated six-lane track, a regulated straightaway and long-jump, high-jump and pole-vault pits.

The newly renovated Manley was missing these things. Instead, it had a three-lane track and a two-lane straightaway surrounding the new FieldTurf at the center of the arena, used for football, lacrosse, softball and soccer. The pits that were once in the old Manley were not in the revamped arena, except for a makeshift high-jump pit, Rubeor said.

Though the new facilities have improved many teams’ ability to practice, the Syracuse track and field team is the exception.

‘It was a huge renovation,’ Rubeor said. ‘It benefited a lot of teams. Softball loves it, football loves it, soccer loves it, lacrosse loves it.

‘Track and field — not so much.’

In a statement to The Daily Orange, SU Athletic Director Daryl Gross said, ‘The renovation to the Manley Arena enhances opportunities for a large portion of our student-athletes, including our track and field programs. This is about the entire Syracuse athletics program, as we are trying to be extraordinary in all of our sports. The facility benefits many of our sports, and we are excited about that.’

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Not everyone shares Gross’ enthusiasm. For pole vaulter Tara Brenner, the change was a ‘disappointment.’

Brenner said the pole vaulters focus on getting back into shape with conditioning and training in the fall before they get into the technical work of actual pole vaulting. Without the pole-vaulting pits, Brenner vaulted in the fall semester only once in December.

And this semester, the only time Brenner and her fellow pole vaulters practice is when they take 33-mile trips to the State University of New York at Cortland. She estimates that happens a few times a month. Last year in the old Manley, Brenner could vault at least once or twice a week.

‘It definitely hasn’t been ideal,’ Brenner said. ‘We have not been vaulting as much as I would like by any means.’

Brenner said she considered quitting, but felt it was worth fighting for her dedication to pole vaulting and her team.

But at least in part, it drove away others, including her former coach Enoch Borozinski, who worked with the field athletes. Borozinski cited it as one of the reasons he decided to leave Syracuse and take a job at Nevada, Las Vegas.

In a phone interview, Borozinski said it didn’t make sense for him to stay in a situation in which the facility didn’t have what he needed to coach effectively.

Other reasons Borozinski said he left included better facilities in his specialization at UNLV, having more scholarships and being closer to home.

‘I saw what was supposed to be coming in (Manley) and like I said, did it affect my decision to leave? Yeah. Absolutely,’ he said.

As for pole vaulter Paris McLean, she was fed up the moment she laid eyes on the revamped Manley. Without a pit, the walk-on junior decided to quit the team.

She emailed assistant coach Dave Hegland to let him know she was leaving. Hegland said he could not confirm if anyone else quit because of the renovation.

‘Pole vaulting was my passion. It was the one thing I finally found that I liked, and I was actually good at,’ McLean said. ‘It hurt.’

Hegland, who took over Borozinski’s position, acknowledges that pole vaulters were hit hardest by the renovation. But they certainly aren’t the only ones.

When SU sprinter Sham Lewis saw the facility, he had one question.

‘First thing I thought in my mind was, ‘How are we going to practice? We’ve got a bigger group than last year. How are we going to get everyone to practice?” Lewis said.

When describing how the sprinters run on the straightaway, Lewis points at a safety mat propped up against the wall. That safety mat is his cushion from a concrete wall.

The sprinters start at the entrance door from the locker rooms and slam into the mats to break their momentum. Lewis can’t imagine running full steam ahead without it.

‘Luckily we have mats. If we didn’t have mats in here, sprinting wouldn’t exist,’ Lewis said.

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At the start of the season, the sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and multi-event athletes had a meeting. In that meeting, Hegland said he talked about the challenges the new facility would present. He said if an athlete were only 95 percent committed, he or she should pursue other interests.

‘It’s going to be hard,’ Brenner said, recalling what Hegland told the team. ‘We’ve got a lot of athletes. We’ve got one coach. We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen with the practice facility. We don’t know when we can get in there, and if you don’t have what it takes and you’re not willing to commit 100 percent to our team, then you can consider other options.’

That meeting was the first time many athletes found out about the change and challenges of the revamped Manley.

Lewis heard myths and rumors during his career at SU that Manley would be renovated. When that time finally came, though, he was caught completely off guard.

No one told him. The SU Athletics website did.

‘I saw the reconstruction on the website, and I was just like, ‘Oh, oh. This could be good or bad,” Lewis said. ‘It’s funny, something this big happens and you think it’d be broadcast.’

Since the construction didn’t start until the summer, Hegland said the topic of the new Manley was discussed when the athletes returned to school. He said he talked to some athletes individually before the meeting as well.

When Brenner was recruited, she was told that there would most likely be changes to the practice facility. But she said she was led to believe a pole-vault pit would always be included. Borozinski said he never guaranteed anything.

‘They were very vague as to what would happen to it,’ Brenner said.

Although a pole-vault pit was not implemented, it was part of the plan at one point during the renovation.

Rich Ranieri, vice president of Ballard Construction, the main construction company hired by SU to renovate Manley, said a pole-vault pit was in the initial plan. By sometime in August, that plan was nixed because of space constrictions.

Another potential idea was putting in an elevated track.

‘It’s probably the most expensive idea and probably not the best idea,’ SU head coach Chris Fox said of an elevated track. ‘It would be more like a Bally fitness center than it would be a college track.’

In an email, assistant director of athletics for communications Sue Edson said, ‘We considered many plans for renovation to best serve all of our student-athletes.’

Syracuse athletes didn’t have a definitive idea of what was in store. But as far back as the winter of 2008, SU’s athletic department informed high schools that held track meets at the old Manley to start looking for a new place to compete, said John Rathbun, executive director of Section III athletics in New York state. Manley was no longer regulated for competition, he said.

Rathbun said SU senior associate director of athletics Barbara Henderson told him in 2008 that the facility would not be usable for 2009. Because the construction was delayed, Section III was able to use it for one additional year, Rathbun said.

But McLean said she was unaware of how drastic the change would be.

‘It kinds of makes me wonder why they waited so long,’ she said. ‘Did they not care to let us know?’

Ranieri said SU came to Ballard in February or March of 2010 with a conceptual outline. Ranieri said football was what SU wanted the focus to be. And it wanted a track on the perimeter of the field.

The only field event Ranieri said he talked about between the two sides was a pole-vault pit.

Fox said he couldn’t give an exact date when he knew the renovated Manley would be different for his program. He said even during construction, there was no certainty as to what the facility would be like.

Looking back, Fox still isn’t sure if athletes should have been informed of the changes sooner than when they returned this fall.

‘Hindsight is 20/20. Perhaps,’ Fox said.

‘I didn’t know what we were going to have until it was finished,’ he added. ‘We didn’t know what the final product would be until it was done. If someone was dissatisfied that they weren’t told ahead of time, again, maybe we should have, but I’m not sitting around lamenting that.’

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Before the FieldTurf was installed at Manley, the Syracuse softball team practiced at the Carrier Dome. First baseman Kelly Saco said the team would either get kicked out of the Dome early or practice would be canceled to make room during basketball season.

Now Saco said the new Manley has brought a sense of certainty to the team’s practice schedule. Head coach Leigh Ross said having batting cages in Manley gives her players the chance to hit whenever they want.

‘It is a lot more convenient, and we actually get to practice,’ Saco said of the new Manley.

At least seven teams besides the track team use Manley to practice in and out of season. And those teams have largely seen benefits from the renovations.

Edson said the renovation was important to the success of all SU teams. She said it has provided additional space for every team to train and practice, and has been more flexible in terms of scheduling practices.

SU men’s lacrosse head coach John Desko said Manley has helped with training both in and out of season. He also said that during basketball season, practicing with 80 yards of turf at Manley is better than 50 yards at the Dome.

Long-stick midfielder Joel White said the athletic department ‘really stepped up and gave us a good place here.’

Though White said he could only take away positives, he understands how some teams might not have gained as much from the new facility.

‘They tried to help out everybody. I think some people are probably not as happy with losing some of the stuff in here,’ White said. ‘I know the track and field team isn’t too happy, but I think they’re working with us.’

For his part, Fox stresses that compromising was important. Although some of his athletes were displeased, they know that other sports need an acceptable space to practice as well.

‘If they were pissed off, then they had a right to be pissed off,’ Fox said of his athletes. ‘They still understand that football needs this facility, and that’s OK. I’m sure there are some people that are disgruntled, but as I say, compromise is a part of life.’

***

The hardest part for some track and field athletes has been the adjustment to the new facility. But the adjustment has also carried its benefits for the team. In a news release from SU on June 16, 2010, Gross said, ‘The Olympic sports will be able to enhance their practice opportunities as well.’

But to athletes like Lewis, that enhancement never came. And he hopes the athletic department realizes that.

‘I hope they know and they’re aware,’ Lewis said. ‘I don’t know if they had track in mind when they put this new facility in, but I’m hoping they got some sort of idea that this is slightly affecting us.’

Although the new Manley has been an uphill climb in many aspects, several athletes still have overcome the obstacles, either setting personal records or qualifying for Big East and/or the ECAC/IC4A. Thirty-eight athletes have qualified for the Big East and 28 for the ECAC/IC4A.

Sprinter Flings Owusu-Agyapong said though she was surprised when she saw how different the facility was, she doesn’t think it has affected the team in a negative way.

‘We came in and we knew it was different,’ she said. ‘But instead of focusing on what was wrong, we just decided to focus on, ‘OK, this is what we have to work with.’ It’s not bad at all. It’s been great. We’ve all pretty much (set personal records).’

Sixty-seven athletes have set personal records this season, including Rubeor, who said she’s set more personal records this year than any other year.

Rubeor said though the team has had the toughest adjustment, it has benefited by figuring out how to work with the facility.

‘It benefits every team on campus,’ Rubeor said. ‘Unfortunately, our benefit is the adjustment and being adaptable and learning what it is to not have everything that you want.’

Rubeor said that at a track meet, athletes often encounter unexpected circumstances. She said not having everything at the new Manley prepares for the uncertainty of meets.

Hegland said he was most concerned with field-event athletes going into the season. But he has been impressed with how his athletes have weathered the storm.

‘You’ll never be defined by your facility,’ he said. ‘And if you think you can’t be a great athlete because you only have two lanes or because you can’t long jump as much, then in my opinion you were never going to be a great athlete anyway.’

Hegland said the new Manley has also cut down on injuries. In previous years, the track team would do all its running on the track surface. This year, the team does its warm-up and low-intensity running on the FieldTurf, putting less stress on athletes’ legs.

When asked which facility she’d rather have, Rubeor said because of all the personal records, she would take the new Manley, even after the tears she shed for the old Manley.

Lewis said he prefers the old Manley, calling it ideal.

Fox has seen both the advantages and downfalls of the new arena. For him, it’s all about compromise.

‘You have to be a team player,’ Fox said. ‘Not just within your own team, but within the athletic department. We have a nice facility. Do we have the best facility in the country? No. We may someday.’

dgproppe@syr.edu

Published on April 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm