Roth award contributes to new building

WASHINGTON - When Washington coach Steve Roth was voted one of the top 15 coaches in the country in a contest conducted by US Cellular, he was awarded a $5,000 grant. That money was used as seed money to build a shed overlooking the finish line at Case Field.

'This thing is going to be fancy,” Roth said.

Work on the shed has recently begun.

'A lot of people have donated because it cost more than the $5,000 grant I received,” Roth said. 'That is what got us started.”

The two-story structure will have white siding on it.

'It sticks out like a sore thumb with it being a double decker,” Roth said. 'They just put in six windows (Dec. 30).”

There are four windows across the top on the second floor and two on the east side of the ground floor. All windows face south.

The shed is constructed on the northwest corner of the track near the entrance where an old ticket booth stands.

The ticket booth has deteriorated considerably and will be removed.

'That booth is old and it's nasty,” Roth said of the old structure. 'We are going to tear that thing down. It is bad off.”

The booth is in such disrepair that a table was set up next to it to take money at events instead of using the booth.

'It is rotten clear through,” Roth said. 'That thing will be gone and things will look much better. We have it going on now.”

There is also going to be a camera in the shed for photo finishes instead of on a pole where it has been. The pole camera was not as solid and sturdy as the new setup will provide.

The new shed has an upstairs and the downstairs. There will be a garage door on the north side which will allow for easy entrance for the storage of whatever is necessary, besides its functions during the track season.

Those functions include the base for runners to report, passing out race numbers, announcing, timing and the computer operations.

'It's a pretty cool set up and it's going to be real nice,” Roth said.