Midway University breaks ground for $3.2 million field house to accommodate growing athletic programs

Midway University trustees turned sand at the ceremony, which also included local officials.

Midway University held a ceremonial groundbreaking today for a new $3.2 million facility to accommodate its burgeoning athletic programs. The 20,000-square-foot facility will be named Hunter Field House, to honor the primary donors, Jan and Richard Hunter of San Diego, Calif.

Jan Hunter, a university trustee since 2000, announced two years ago her intention to donate $2 million to the school. She told the crowd at yesterday's ceremony, "This is an institution worth investing in." She and her husband own Hunter Industries Inc., which manufactures irrigation systems.

The other major donor recognized yesterday was Trustee Belinda Betzger. Donna Moore Campbell, chair of the Board of Trustees, said the event was "a wonderful way to celebrate what has been accomplished" at the school in the last few years.

President John Marsden said the school faced great challenges in 2016, when the trustees opened daytime enrollment to men. He said daytime enrollment, which had shrunk to 266 women, is now 571, more than 400 of them athletes, and total enrollment is 1,668.

The field house will house most of the university's athletic staff and have an auxiliary gymnasium, an elevated walking track, two locker rooms, a recruitment conference room and a weight and cardio room. Construction is to begin immediately and be completed by the end of 2019 so it can be ready for the spring semester of 2020.

The project is part of the university's "Campaign of Opportunities," which it launched in 2016. "The main goals of the campaign are to raise funds for improvements to some existing facilities and construction of new facilities," the school said in a news release. "Aside from the new field house, the campaign already has funded some renovations to the existing residence halls and, when the campaign closes out, another groundbreaking will occur for an on-campus baseball stadium. To date, the University has amassed over 90 percent of the pledges needed to successfully complete the campaign."