Owatonna's athletic facilities part of a newly built school that is something to behold

Sep. 29—OWATONNA — There is now a three-story, 317,000-square-foot facility occupying 90 acres on the edge of Owatonna's southeast side, just off Highway 14.

It opened for business at the beginning of August and has been taking the breath away of users and onlookers every day since.

It is Owatonna's new high school, a $122 million project that came to fruition thanks to the passing of a $104 million bonding bill, a $22 million donation from Owatonna-based Federated Insurance and sweet construction deals from a host of other Owatonna businesses, led by music and theater products specialist Wenger Corporation and glass maker Viracon.

It seems to offer something for everyone at the school. That includes a nursing station classroom, an auto shop, a culinary arts kitchen, state-of the art science labs, a glistening performing arts center, and music suites.

"The goal for this new school and its construction was that everyone is included," Owatonna High School Activities Director Marc Achterkirch said.

Hovering around the top of that list is an area that Owatonna has forever excelled — athletics.

The way things look now at their new site, the Huskies might just rank at the tippy top when it comes to athletic-programs infrastructure.

"When I first saw this, I probably reacted the way pretty much everyone does," said Owatonna senior Owen Beyer, a football, hockey and baseball player. "Everywhere you go here, it's just jaw dropping. The football field, it's so nice, it almost looks fake. As kids, this is all very special to us, to find out the entire community wants to help you out."

As is true of Owatonna's new music offerings and their Wenger Performing Arts Center, the school spared little expense with their athletic facilities. This at a school that was three years in the making and involved all of its coaches and administration in coming up with wish lists and ultimately a master plan.

"There were lots of meetings between us and lots of research done," said Achterkirch, in his sixth year as Owatonna's activities director and 29th year overall at the school. "We were very grateful that we were able to bring in user groups and put the right people in front of the architects to determine what we wanted to do. Our track coaches, our football coaches, our wrestling coaches, our strength coach ... all of our coaches were allowed to say, 'This is what we need. These are the spaces we need if we want to be top class and give our kids the best opportunities possible.'"

What's come out of it is staggering.

Just ask Owatonna physical education teacher and strength coach Jerry Eggermont, who played a major role in brainstorming for the school's new weight room, a palatial space whose massive windows overlook the school's 3,400-seat artificial-turf Federated Field at Owatonna Stadium. The weight room's crown jewel is its rack system, with its 18 steel framed racks allowing athletes to perform a variety of lifts at each station

"There are Division II college programs in the country that don't have weight rooms like this one," Eggermont said. "(The installers) said they just put a weight room in at (Division I) East Carolina, and that this one is better. The leadership and the support we've gotten for all of this is just beyond words. To see it all come to fruition is something. There were a lot of moving pieces."

The athletic layout at Owatonna's new high school goes well beyond Federated Field at Owatonna Stadium and the Huskies' top-of-the-line weight room.

Everything, of course, is new, but it's so much more than that. It starts with a plaza that leads to the stadium, offering ample room for tailgating, grilling, music to be blaring and where two weeks ago a gaming station was set up for kids to play Madden NF just prior to football kickoff.

This is the area that longtime Owatonna football coach Jeff Williams calls the school's "front porch." If curb appeal — or in this case parking-lot appeal — is important to a school, Owatonna's new digs have it.

"It was packed the other night," Achterkirch said of the stadium's plaza. "It was crazy. The plaza gives it a real college feel and atmosphere."

Williams loves what it's created for his football team.

"The atmosphere has been electric," he said. "The students are rocking in there. I really like the new traditions we're creating."

Just inside the plaza is Owatonna's Foundation Room. Pre-game chalk talks are done here. It also offers ample space for banquets and two large multi-media screens adorn the walls, making it ideal for presentations.

The 3,400-seat stadium, with its synthetic-turf field, rests a short distance from the plaza. The stadium's video board is a part of the spectacle, with the operator able to dial up players' photos on the big screen, as well as provide a variety of audience entertainment. In the Owatonna press box, which is also brimming with space, one person runs the video board, another the scoreboard.

Federated Field at Owatonna Stadium is a multi-use place, including for track and field. There is a nine-lane track that loops around the field and the complex has nine shot put rings, three cages for discus, four long jump/triple jump runways and a two-way pole vault area.

But it's what's been built to the south of the stadium that excites Achterkirch as much as anything. That's where five multi-use synthetic-turf fields reside, two of them lighted. Also there is Federated Park, a lighted and fully synthetic-turf softball stadium.

Football, baseball, softball and lacrosse will all practice in this southern portion of the complex. And just to the west of that are eight new tennis courts, that facility also fully lighted.

With synthetic turf able to absorb water quickly and minus the muck that happens with a wet grass field, Achterkirch envisions spring practices happening sooner and with far fewer cancellations.

"Often, the natural-grass fields take forever even to have the frost come out of them," Achterkirch said. "But when the sun is out, turf fields can become clear as a bell quickly. We can be out there hitting ground balls early in the spring."

Go inside Owatonna's new high school and there is a massive wrestling room that is still under construction but will be ready when that season starts. The gymnasiums — complete with video boards on either end of the performance gym— are ready now. The performance gym has been aptly named Federated Gymnasium, again a nod to the massive donation provided by the insurance group.

"We wanted to give (Federated Insurance) credit for their generous donation," Achterkirch said. "If we don't get that, there is no way we can do all this. And it's not just their financial support, but also their business presence and influence in the community."

Next to Federated Gymnasium, which also includes a running track around the balcony, is an auxiliary gym, with more basketball courts.

And there is still more. The boys and girls varsity locker rooms, with 100 lockers for each, are also top of the line. Wenger contributed here, too, supplying the kind of storage carts found in many Division I locker rooms.

Around every corner of a school that has replaced the original 1921 version, is something glistening, something to behold.

The students, teachers, coaches and administration here are taking none of it for granted.

Achterkirch says it perfectly represents what he views as a special community.

"Owatonna has always supported us, educationally and in our activities," he said. "We are just blessed and honored to have these new facilities. They're going to serve our community for generations to come."