When track and field coaches see the indoor track facilities at the GaREAT Sports Complex for the first time, they usually look around in stunned silence.

"It is fantastic," said Baldwin High School coach Ed Helbig, who is one of the directors of the Tri-State Track Coaches Association. "You have to see it to believe it."

More and more track athletes from Western Pennsylvania, their coaches and their parents are going to be visiting the GaREAT Sports Complex this month. That's because the Tri-State Track Coaches Association will conduct three indoor meets, including the TSTCA indoor championships Feb. 27, at the Ohio facility.

The coaches association has run a meet at the complex that is located just south of Geneva, Ohio, and off Interstate 90 and has another scheduled for Saturday.

The complex is about a two-hour drive from Pittsburgh, which might seem like a long way to go for a high school indoor track meet ... until the facilities are seen.

"We might be a little different here at Baldwin, but our coaches don't mind driving a distance with the athletes if they're going to get a chance to compete on a quality track," Helbig said. "And I think a lot of coaches are that same way."

Some background on the GaREAT Sports Complex: GaREAT stands for Geneva area, Recreation, Educational, Athletic Trust. It is a non-profit group that built the complex that includes, along with the indoor track facility, an outdoor football stadium that seats 5,500, an indoor soccer field, six indoor basketball courts that can also be converted to 12 volleyball courts, a weight lifting area, locker rooms, meeting rooms, indoor batting cages and a huge cafeteria.

The track building is 240,000 square feet and houses an eight-lane, 300-meter synthetic track that also has two 150-meter straightaways on either side. The one closest to the bleachers is 10 lanes, while the one on the backstretch is eight.

There are also two high jump pits, two long jump pits and two pole vault pits along with three throwing platforms and a portable cage for weight events such as the shot put.

"The concept was to build a facility where a meet with a high volume of participants could be held in four hours, not 12 or 14 hours," said Rick Marinelli, who is the director for track and field at the facility, a former decathlete at Bowling Green University and a former high school track coach in Ohio. "With all of the jumping pits we have, we can hold a field event in an hour-and-a-half instead of taking all day and having the athletes sit around for long stretches.

"One of the first meets we had here I put in all the entries for the sprints and thought I did something wrong because the number of heats was so small. But with 10 lanes for sprints, it doesn't take long to run them because the number of heats is small. We haven't had to use the eight lanes on the backstretch yet for a meet."

The indoor tracks in Western Pennsylvania -- Fitzgerald Fieldhouse at Pitt, the Sewall Center at Robert Morris University and Morrow Fieldhouse at Slippery Rock University -- are shorter than 300 meters and not as fast. Times are slower at those places, which makes qualifying more difficult for the athletes.

High school indoor track in Pennsylvania is regulated by coaches associations. Athletes have to meet predetermined times or distances to qualify for the state indoor championship meet, which is run by the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association and takes place at Penn State University.

With that in mind, running four meets -- the first was Jan. 22 -- on a track that produces fast times has to help more area athletes qualify for the state indoor meet.

What Helbig likes about holding TSTCA meets at GaREAT is an athlete is not limited to one event. That has been the case at meets at some other indoor facilities in order to hurry along the competition.

"Because of the space, we're allowing athletes to run three events," he said. "At the [TSTCA] championships we'll keep it at 16 individuals in an event."

He added that if some Ohio high schools want to get into the Tri-State championships, that's OK with him. For an athlete to qualify for the championships they have to attend at least one of the association's meets.

"It will actually be a Tri-State championship," Helbig said.

Lee Zelkowitz, Penn Hills High School track coach, doesn't mind having Ohio athletes competing for TSTCA indoor titles. He just wants his athletes to compete against good competition and to be pushed.

"The competition should make us better," he said. "If somebody from Ohio beat us in a race, we'll just work harder."

Marinelli said their hasn't been much marketing of the indoor track facility because all the effort went into getting it ready for this winter. But added that the word about the complex is getting out.

Helbig said the TSTCA could have more indoor meets than just four at the GaREAT facility next year. He likes having meets at local facilities such as Pitt and Slippery Rock, but pointed out that meets have to be worked in around other events at those colleges.

"The drive is the thing but for a meet at Slippery Rock we would get started at 10 a.m. and I wouldn't get home until after 7 p.m. because it would just take so long to run the thing," he said. "We have to drive up there [to Geneva, Ohio,] but I still get home about the same time because the meet doesn't take as long."

Of course there is a cost to rent the GaREAT facility for meets but Helbig said it was reasonable. He expects the track will get more use as the word spreads. With demand could come increased rental fees.

"But the place is beyond belief. We must have had at least 800 kids in there the first meet and it was like the place was empty," Helbig said. "I'll pay a little extra to be able to have a meet there."

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