The Garfield G-Men track and field team now has a track they can call home as the district hosted a grand opening ceremony last Saturday morning at the inaugural Harry Kraft Middle School Invititational meet in Garrettsville.
“It is absolutely huge,” Athletic Director Jim Pfleger told The Weekly Villager. “It is great for everybody, the community, the kids and the coaches. Most importantly, for the kids, it is so great for them to have the resource. When Coach John Bennett was here, the kids were in the parking lot most days or running in the hallway or even borrowing neighboring schools’ tracks such as Crestwood, Ravenna and even Hiram College.”
Garfield’s new track was resurfaced with a rubberized adhesive in 2023 by the Vasco Asphalt Company and the track team received use of its home track for the first time in over 20 years last spring. After hosting a middle school tri-meet last spring, they hosted two middle school dual meets this spring and commemorated the Harry Kraft Middle School Invitational by holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Former Garfield coaches attended the event as well as former student-athletes and family members of athletes and coaches’, including the children of revered middle school track and field Coach Harry Kraft, as well as some standout athletes. Edith Svonavec a four-time Ohio High School Athletic Association shot put champion, was also in attendance.
“It means a lot because there is a lot of blood, sweat, dedication and tears out here so seeing this finally happen,” the 2015 graduate said. “We have had a throws area for a little while but even that has gotten bigger and better so having a track out here means a lot for future generations to get better as well.”
The returning student-athletes began the ceremony by performing a Walk of Honor around the track before the ribbon-cutting ceremony took place. Longtime track Coach John Bennett officially ushered in Garfield’s new track by cutting the ribbon.
“There was only one guy you could have do something like this,” Pfleger added. “He was the Garfield track program for over 30 years, and I don’t think people realize how much stuff he did back here. When we did host meets, he would be back here lining it on Sunday and Monday nights before we hosted; he did most of the maintenance on it. This is his place.”
According to Pfleger, the G-Men were prohibited from using their track in the 2002 season because the OHSAA outlawed the use of cinder tracks.
“The injury levels for the kids now, we have shin split issues because we would be running on asphalt and in the hallways and we would be monitoring our training,” he said. Pfleger acknowledged that not having a home track to practice on affected the team greatly, especially for relay events because the G-Men were not familiar with the exchange zones.
Superintendent Ted Lysiak said that conversations about bringing back the use of the Garfield track started happening several years ago and it became a reality when the school district approved funding to resurface the track in addition to renovating the buildings’ HVAC systems and roofs.
He also credited the Garfield community for its fundraising efforts to champion the track’s resurfacing.
“It is so much more than just the high school,” Lysiak noted. “It is about the entire community. You will find people back here walking on it and is what makes Garfield such a special place — the community. Obviously, our high school athletes get to compete back here and our middle school athletes get to compete but really this is a community spot for us and we are really proud of it.”
Due to weather conditions, the G-Men did not have a chance to host many meets but have benefitted from more favorable elements this year by hosting two dual meets and now have designated an annual middle school invitational to be held in the memory of Harry Kraft.
“He was just a great human being,” said Pfleger. “He was a great guy and a great coach, and he just means a lot. He impacted so many kids and he passed away a few years ago. We just wanted to do something to honor him in his memory.”
In addition to the Harry Kraft Invitational, Pfleger said that discussions are in place about the high school having its own annual invitational in the near future as well.
