By Mason Cavalier//
You may have noticed a new figure protruding from the Rosemont Avenue skyline this fall, courtesy of Hood College. Those figures, especially after dark, reveal themselves to be the new floodlights that surround Hood College’s Thomas Athletic Field. The lights obviously offer illumination for those on the field, but according to Hood’s Associate Director of Athletics Jack “Coach” Mehl, they also offer much more than that.
The lights, which were installed in June last summer, had been a wish list item for the athletic department ever since the turf arrived in 2009, so what was the hold up? “Well it was expensive,” Said Mehl. “President Chapdelaine made a commitment to get the lights up and worked with the Athletic Department, her office, and [the Office of] Institutional Advancement, and they did some fundraising for the lights.”
The lights have given Hood’s Athletic Department more flexibility than ever, allowing practices to be held past sundown, and letting teams play “under the lights.” According to Mehl, “It’s been nice because we have some part-time coaches, so the best time for them to practice would be early in the morning, and it used to be that at 6 o’clock it’s light for a little while, but in the middle of September its darker.”