BOONE, N.C. -- For one last time, all eyes will be on the Ike Belk Track.
The track will host its final meet inside Kidd Brewer Stadium on Friday and Saturday. While the track is scheduled to be removed this year as part of the construction plans for a new $38.2 million end zone facility, the history and legacy it has had for the Appalachian State track and field program will always be remembered.
The track hosted its first meet in 1966. Over its time, it has seen Olympians compete and hosted numerous conference championships. It was named the "Ike" Belk Track in 2009, after Irwin "Ike" Belk, who funded 41 outdoor tracks at schools, universities and colleges across the Southeast.
"The track has been a fixture of the community and university," said head cross country and distance coach
Michael Curcio. "It has been the center of campus and a great resource for all of our athletes and students."
The Carolinas Conference Championship Meet was the first event held on the track, which featured a cinder surface, on May 13, 1966 inside of then Conrad Stadium (now Kidd Brewer Stadium). On that day, Appalachian State, Atlantic Christian, Catawba, Elon, Guilford, High Point, Lenoir-Rhyne and Presbyterian all competed for the Carolinas Conference title. The Mountaineers finished fourth in the meet, with High Point taking home the title.
As the program continued to evolve, so did the track. The surface was upgraded from cinder to a synthetic surface in the mid 1970's. The synthetic base that served as the foundation of the upgrade in the 1970's is still the same base beneath the track today.
"The most amazing thing is how well the track has held up," said Director of Track and Field
John Weaver, who is retiring in June after 47 years of coaching. "It has undergone a couple of refurbishments, but the base is still the original synthetic material. Our administration had done a great job to protect and preserve it over the years."
Appalachian hosted the Carolinas Conference Championship again in 1967, where the Black and Gold finished second.
In 1982, Weaver took over full-time for the women's program. The women would host their first ever outdoor meet on the track in the 1983 season.
App State competed in its first Southern Conference Championship is 1973 and enjoyed a dominant run through the league, until leaving for the Sun Belt in 2014. In all, the women's team captured 18 team championships, including nine consecutive titles from 1987-1995. The men won 10 titles in the Southern Conference, including five straight from 2001-2005.
The track became a common host to the Southern Conference Championships. Overall, the men's championships took place in Boone 12 times and the women's championships occurred nine times. The men captured the Southern Conference title in Boone six times, while the women won five times. Both programs were able to sweep the championships as the host school in 1987, 1993, 2003 and 2004.
The Mountaineers have also had some decorated athletes step foot and compete on the track. Of the 12 times that the Appalachian men were the host of the Southern Conference Championships, Mike Hanks (1987), Jason Dalton (1993) and Malcolm Styers (2010) were named Most Outstanding Athletes of the Meet. On the women's side, Meg Warren (1987), Vanessa Kosmala (1990) and Melissa Morrison (1993) earned Most Outstanding Athlete honors while the meet was hosted in the High Country.
On top of the MVP honors that the Mountaineers won, App State has seen two of its own athletes compete on the Ike Belk Track and also in the Olympics. Anthony Famiglietti and Morrison represented the United States after competing at Appalachian State and on the track.
Famiglietti attended Appalachian State from 1996-98, competing in distance events for the Mountaineers. In 1997, at the Southern Conference Championships in Boone, he finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and third in the 5,000-meter run. He would go on to compete in the 2004 Olympics in Athens in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing eighth in the opening round. He also ran in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, qualifying for the finals and finishing 13th overall.
Morrison graduated from Appalachian in 1993. She earned All-America honors in the 100-meter hurdles in 1993. Morrison would go on to compete at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Olympics in Greece, earning bronze medals in the 100-meter hurdles at both Olympics. She also won the 100-meter hurdles at the 1998 U.S. Outdoor Championships and the 60-meter hurdles at the USA Indoor Championships in 1998 and 2002.
"This was always a great place to host a meet," Weaver recalled. "The track represents the evolution of Appalachian State and the track program. As App State continues to grow, we will continue to make our program grow and take the next steps towards a Division I certified track facility."
From hosting its first meet in 1966 to seeing the addition of the women's program to serving as the base for the men's and women's program dominance, the Ike Belk Track has seen it all.
"We are sad to see it go," Curcio added. "We have built a high standard for our programs at Appalachian State and are confident that our next facility will live up to those standards and continue the traditions that were built on the Ike Belk Track."
On Saturday, as the day winds down, the Ike Belk Track will see its time come to an end. While the track may move to a new location in Boone, its history will never be forgotten.
