Grand Junction High School is getting a new artificial grass field for $1.5 million, despite it not originally being part of the new $144.5 million schools’ plan.

“It’s exciting. It’s exciting to have new facilities,” said GJHS Principal Jory Sorensen, who confirmed the project’s total cost that covers prep work, drainage and materials.

Starting on the south end of the field, the grass was removed to start construction. After this, they will put down the artificial grass field (often referred to as turf) to replace the natural grass on the interior track practice field.

“The turf for the field provides an opportunity to save costs in the end because we aren’t having to pay to water grass, mow and maintain grass, etc. Also, grass fields get torn up when used in the fall, which leaves them inaccessible to other sports throughout the year,” wrote School District 51 Superintendent Brian Hill in an email.

According to School District 51 Director of Maintenance, Grounds & Operations, Eddie Mort, the brand of turf is Matrix Turf. It is being installed by Hellas Company.

“We began talking about synthetic turf as an option this summer,” Mort wrote in an email.

The plans for the field were discussed in a school board meeting Oct. 1 during a GJHS construction update. Renovations on the field started on Dec. 2 and they are scheduled to be fully completed by the end of the school year.  

“The funding for the athletics fields, including the turf, is paid for with the 2021 bond dollars for the new GJHS. Because of wise decision making on behalf of the district and the contractors, we continue to be under budget on the entire school project,” wrote Hill in an email.

At the beginning of the school year, GJHS laid down a new track with solid colors, like black, white, and bright orange. However, there haven’t been any changes to the grass infield until recently.

“When looking at the athletics facilities at the new GJHS, one of our goals was to be able to accommodate as many sports on the campus as possible so that students aren’t having to travel as much. This is reflected in the types of fields we are building and things like how many tennis courts we build to be able to host matches,” wrote Hill.

When the new artificial turf is laid down, the center of the field will have an orange interlocking GJ logo and both end zones will be orange with the word “TIGERS” in white.

“I think it can help the team with more accuracy during our plays where we run through the plays there’s going to be less tripping, slipping, I think it will improve the team’s morale and something everybody can look forward to for the next football season,” said GJHS sophomore football player I

saac Baca.

The football team will practice on the new field beginning with summer training and into the fall.

“It’s pretty great. It’ll be pretty great and awesome but the field is going to be hot so summer practices are going to be pretty miserable,” said GJHS junior football player Alex Guerrero.

According to GJHS Athletics Director Shawn Marsh, football, soccer and lacrosse teams will use the field as well as the school’s gym classes. The field will be striped for all three sports.

Although the soccer team will use the renovated field, there will still be a new soccer field. Other athletic facilities will continue to be built on south campus featuring baseball, softball, tennis and soccer. The new soccer field at the corner of North 5th Street and Tiger Avenue will have natural grass and can also accommodate lacrosse.

Artificial turf will also be installed on the infield of the combined baseball and softball field soon to be built on campus near the bus loop, but the outfield will have natural grass. 

Editor’s Note: Orange & Black reporters Eli Schultz and Taylor Dickey contributed to the article.