By Katie Schleiss
The recent purchase of Triangle Park is being heralded by UP staff and coaches as one of the most instrumental moments in the University's history, both relieving a space crunch and providing new opportunities for the Athletic Department to expand and develop.
Men's track coach Rob Conner, has been at the University for 19 years and believes that the acquisition of Triangle Park is the biggest thing to happen to the University in 100 years.
"Obviously, in the current situation there is very limited space and the new property will give us some new flexibility to spread out our infrastructure and this is very important," Conner said.
Conner also said that he is very excited about the future and looking forward to one day when the University can have a track to call its very own. Currently, the track team has to travel about six miles from campus to northeast Portland at Fernhill Park in order to practice on a track. Then, the team usually has to wait for Central Catholic High School to finish its practice before they can take to the track.
"This is rather inconvenient and someday in the distant future it would be nice to not have to do that because we have national-level athletes that deserve a proper location. This is definitely something to look forward to," Conner said.
However, before the University can develop the property, a master plan outlining its projected uses and vision must first be established. According to Larry Williams, athletic director, this process could take quite some time.
"There are currently no official plans and all of the specifics will be planned out later. Future development of the land will take a number of years and the University of Portland is just starting to look at what can be done with the property," Williams said.
Williams did say, however, that because of the nature of the land and the proximity to the water, there are no plans to construct buildings or dorms on Triangle Park.
The construction of the new dorms Fields and Schoenfeldt took space that could have been potentially been used for new athletic fields. There is an absolute need for new fields because space is limited on The Bluff, Williams said.
"With the creation of these new fields, there will be a greater effort to balance club sports, intramural sports, varsity sports, and recreation use," Williams said.
Students will be able to use these future fields for recreation use and there will be more planning about sharing space.
The Athletic Department has expressed desire for a track on campus, both expanding the reputation of the University of Portland and the Athletic Department. Constructing a track on campus is now a possibility and the purchase of Triangle Park nearly doubles the size of campus.
There are no plans for the exact number or type of athletic fields, but "the Athletic Department is very excited about all of the possibilities and what this will mean for the University," Williams said.
