Golden, CO – The Colorado School of Mines football and soccer programs will start the 2022-2023 season with newly renovated fields made by AstroTurf®, the leader in artificial turf innovation. The school chose some of AstroTurf’s most popular products for the facility upgrades – the RootZone 3D3 Series for Marv Kay Stadium at Harry D. Campbell Field and LigaTurf for Stermole Soccer Stadium. Both turf systems are known for their playability, safety, and durability.
“The fields are looking great – we think the players are going to be really happy with the end results,” said Victoria Stringham, regional sales manager and national manager of cooperative financing at AstroTurf®. “The football team and both soccer teams at Colorado School of the Mines have impressive records, so, hopefully, these facility upgrades will enable the Orediggers to have another great season this year, and for many more years to come.”
The Colorado Mines Orediggers football team is getting a fresh start this year with a new field and a new head coach after Coach Gregg Brandon announced his retirement in early 2022. Coach Brandon Moore, who has been a linebackers coach at Mines since 2016, will lead the Orediggers starting this year.
Competing in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Mines Football has won four championships in recent years – 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021 – thanks in part to an incredible defensive lineup that included 2021 RMAC Academic Defensive Player of the Year Nolan Reeve and 2017 NFFCC Defensive Player of the Year Dean Wenger. Coach Moore helped to build the Orediggers’ impressive crew of defensive players, turning them into one of the nation’s top units during his time as a linebackers coach.
Marv Kay Stadium at Harry D. Campbell Field is the fifth-oldest stadium still in use in America, with the original field configuration dating from 1893. It’s the oldest football stadium west of the Mississippi River and the oldest in NCAA Division II.
The new turf will give the Orediggers a high-performance surface that they can use to push themselves even harder. It features the RootZone, a texturized layer of fibers that are designed to encapsulate the infill, reducing infill migration and enhancing shock absorbency. Independent testers have also found that the RootZone boosts safety for athletes by minimizing the torque that’s transmitted to the lower parts of the body during play.
The Orediggers will play their first game on the new turf on September 10th against the Angelo State University Rams.
“We are tremendously excited to have our football and soccer programs get to work on their new AstroTurf surfaces,” said David Hansburg, the director of athletics. “Marv Kay Stadium and Stermole Stadium are already two of the most beautiful places to watch a game in America, and the addition of the new surfaces will help keep our teams competing on a national level for years to come.”
Mines Soccer is also slated to have a fantastic year. Mines Women’s Soccer has made 13 NCAA consecutive appearances, and they can boast five recent Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship titles and eight tournament championships. The men’s team was the RMAC championship team for the previous five years, from 2017 to 2021. They’ve also been to the NCAA tournament for every one of the past ten years.
The new pitch at Stermole Stadium was rolled out in early June and will be ready for the start of the season. The women’s team will play their first home game on the new turf on August 25th against Texas, and the men’s team will go up against California State Monterey Bay on August 26th at home.
The new field at Stermole Soccer Stadium – AstroTurf’s BT52B LigaTurf system – lives up to elite playing standards. It can handle extreme usage without losing its uniform, predictable playing surface and provides grass-like energy restitution and excellent shock absorption.
The fields are being installed by AstroTurf certified installer Rocky Mountain Turf Solutions. The Colorado-based company has been working to provide the best possible design and build of sports fields for more than 20 years.
And to complete each field, Blaster the Burro, everyone’s favorite mascot, will appear in the middle of the turf.
About AstroTurf®
For athletes and sports enthusiasts, AstroTurf® has redefined the way the game is played. The brand offers advanced, multi-sport, and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams, and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority, and safety. To learn more, visit AstroTurf’s website at www.astroturf.com.
About Rocky Mountain Turf Solutions:
Serving Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico for over 20 years, Rocky Mountain Turf Solutions is a regional distributor of AstroTurf® systems. Their team excels at converting grass fields to synthetic turf and designing playing field surfaces to maximize performance, longevity, and environmental benefits. The company specializes in sports fields, playgrounds, and residential turf landscaping.