Pittsburg State University Track
- Client Pittsburg State University
- Location Kansas
- Industry Collegiate
- Surface Track
- Base Construction
- Civil Engineering
- Conceptual Design
- Concessions
- Construction Documents
- Design
- Design-Build
- Entry/Ticket Booth and Shade Structure
- Excavation
- Facilities Assessment
- Facilities Evaluation
- Fence Installation
- Photography
- Preconstruction
- Press Box
- Renderings
- Restroom/Classroom/Locker Room Facility
- Schematic Design
- Site Concrete
- Stadium Design
- Storage Spaces
- Video
A National Powerhouse with Nowhere to Race
Pittsburg State is a track and field powerhouse, with a decorated Division II history and an indoor facility that has hosted national championships. Its outdoor home told a different story. The old track wrapped the football field and offered no more than six usable lanes, capping the size of meets the Gorillas could host. Throwing events could not be held on site at all, with the throws area sitting roughly a half mile away and splitting the program across campus. Years of use had worn the surface down causing injuries. For one of the best programs in the country, the facilities simply did not match the performances.
I think the main goals were to create a space for our championship teams that they’d be proud of, but also to be as efficient as possible and to host those big track meets that have 40, 50, 60 teams.
– Anthony Crespino, Vice President of Athletics
Every Event, One Venue
This is not just a track. It is a full competition and training complex, built to handle every track & field event Pitt State runs, start to finish, on a single site.
We are the only Division II with a track and field complex only. It sets us on a different level than 90% of colleges in the country.
– Kyle Rutledge, Director of Cross Country and Track & Field
9 Competition Lanes
+ a dedicated warm up lane
4 Long and Triple Jump
Runways and Pits
4 Pole Vault Runways and Pits
+ 2 practice runways and pits
2 High Jump Areas
2 Javelin Runways
Steeplechase Water Jump
3 Shot Put and 3 Discus Sectors
2 Hammer Throw Sectors with Competition Cage
Natural Bermuda Grass Infield
Master Plan to Meet Day
It started with the plan. In 2023, MMTH developed a campus-wide athletics master plan for Pittsburg State that laid out a home for the track team. MMTH renderings helped the university show donors what the facility could become, resulting in the project being carried through private funding.
From there, MMTH led the project from design through construction, serving as architect and engineer of record, general contractor, and construction manager and self-performing much of the civil work. The vision was ambitious: put every event in one place, with field events on the infield so a spectator could sit in a single spot and take in the entire meet. At the heart of it is the track surface, a 13-millimeter Beynon BSS 2000 with Hobart system, an IAAF-certified, full-pour synthetic used on Olympic-level and NCAA Division I tracks. It runs fast, with a softer feel that provides superior traction and energy return to protect athletes from injuries.
The location came with its own challenges. Crews stabilized poor soils, dug out an old buried debris field and rebuilt it on a solid base, while pushing through several extreme rains, all on a timeline that left no room to spare. The scope grew right alongside the work. What was originally mapped as a three-phase project condensed into a single expanded phase as donor momentum afforded future work to pull forward, folding what had been planned for phases two and three: spectator seating, press box, video board, restrooms, small and large equipment storage buildings, and NCAA regional-level LED lighting, into the phase 1 build already underway. Through it all, the program set a hard new deadline by committing to host the MIAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. MMTH built to it, breaking ground in June 2025 and delivering in time for the meet the very next spring.
MMTH came along and showed us it was possible. If it wasn’t for MMTH putting all that together and showing us we could make this happen, it never would have become a reality.
– Kyle Rutledge, Director of Cross Country and Track & Field
The Fastest Home in Division II
Pittsburg State now has what its program always deserved: a state-of-the-art outdoor facility unrivaled in Division II and built to Division I standards. For the first time, the Gorillas can host outdoor competition on their own campus, with room for the 50-60 team championship meets that were once out of reach. Every event now lives in one venue, from the sprints to the throws, on a track fast enough to draw elite competition.
MMTH came along and showed us it was possible. If it wasn’t for MMTH putting all that together and showing us we could make this happen, it never would have become a reality.
– Kyle Rutledge, Director of Cross Country and Track & Field
The impact reaches beyond the program. The city and county invested alongside the school, recognizing the hotel, restaurant, and tourism revenue that hosting brings and opening the door to community use for years to come.
This track is the newest chapter in a longstanding partnership. MMTH’s work with Pittsburg State already spans baseball, soccer, the conversion of the football field at Carnie Smith Stadium, and a campus athletics master plan. A football end zone facility now in progress, and a new softball field is next on the master plan. As a MMTH 360 partner, Pittsburg State draws on the full range of MMTH services, from planning, design, construction, and ongoing maintenance support to the Creative team that produced the project’s case study video. A program built on winning finally has a home to match.
