MIDVALE, UT-Hillcrest High School opened the 2025 football season on new turf, after having a whole new field installed over the last year.
According to head coach Robert Kaelin, the new field was necessary to keep student athletes safe during both practices and games. “The old field didn’t get remodeled along with the school. The padding on the field had worn down, so it was basically fake grass and concrete, causing many major injuries last year.” Coach Kaelin stated.
Coach Kaelin also mentioned that he didn’t know the exact cost of the new football field and that we only needed to fix the track and the shock pad for when players fall. However, the cost was likely influenced by the fact that the school fully rebuilt the whole stadium.
The players are enjoying the visit, too. Senior Elian Rico, who plays for the Hillcrest football team, said that for the time he played on it, that it felt much nicer and different from the previous field. Outside Cornerback Aron Mukalay agreed with Kaelin’s assessment of the field relating to injuries. “The field last year when you’d fall it’d hurt pretty bad, but this year when you fall you kind of bounce like you fell on a couch.”
Thomas West, a senior spectator of the Hillcrest football team, states that there is a clear difference between the new and old field and says that it looks marginally better than the old one. He also later spoke about the field saying the announcers box is different from the other fields he has been to and really liked it.