The smell of fresh asphalt permeated through the Capital Center as students and university faculty celebrated the Capital Center’s 25th anniversary alongside a new indoor track last Wednesday.
The scent of the brand new Betty A. Byelene indoor track was so strong that attendees could barely smell the hors d’oeuvres catered for the ribbon cutting ceremony.
The event began at 5:30 p.m., but the excitement of the Capital Center update had students and alumni filing in about 20 minutes early.
Current students had to scan their CORQ pass to enter which automatically entered them in a raffle to win one of seven CapBucks prizes: four $25 prizes, two $50 prizes and one $100 prize.
Attendees occupied themselves with field games including basketball, tennis, lacrosse and cornhole until remarks by university faculty commenced at 6 p.m.
“For 25 years … [the Capital Center] has been a place where people have gathered to compete, perform, celebrate, learn, build community and create limits, and tonight, we get to celebrate the next chapter,” said Darrell Bailey, Director of Athletics and Recreation.
For the past 25 years, the Capital Center has been a vital part of campus for the track and field and cross country teams because of its indoor track.
Justin Rona, a sophomore long distance runner for both cross country and track said that he and his teams are in the Capital Center for practice every day year-round.
“[The indoor track] is very useful because when it’s cold out,” Rona said. “We can’t get outside to do special workouts as you would do on the outdoor track, so this indoor facility comes in very handy. It just lets us do stuff that we can’t do when the weather’s horrible.”
Dimetrius Floyd, also a sophomore long distance runner, explained ways in which the new track is different from the old track. “It’s a lot more vibrant, obviously,” he said. “The turf feels way better, way nicer. It gives us the opportunity to do a bunch of other cool stuff that we didn’t get to do before. It’s just better and not 20 years old.”
Kellogg, one of the faculty speakers, said the new track’s installation will bring new opportunities for hosting large competitions to the university.
“Our new eight-leg straightaway meets Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) and NCAA Championship competition standards, and it provides us the opportunity to host the OAC championships on home turf which we’re sent to do this coming February of 2027,” Kellogg said.
The ribbon cutting ceremony wasn’t just a night to celebrate university athletics; it was also the debut of the university’s new pep band. This is the first iteration of a pep band at the university in over 20 years – now, under the direction of Marc Parulekar, the band will perform at “home football games, select athletic contests and campus events.”
President Jared Tice described the importance of ringing the Capital Center’s victory bell:
“That bell still rings, and tonight we add new sounds to that history with the first notes of a reborn pep band.”
Following the ribbon cutting, and the overwhelming excitement and cheers, the pep band performed the alma mater, “In Radiant Splendor Shine.”
After the ceremony, the pep band continued playing standard stand tunes while alumni caught up with each other and university faculty, and students resumed their field game activities on the new track.
