Portal Middle High School will celebrate the opening of its new track and field complex with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. 

According to a release from the Bulloch County School District, the event will take place at the complex, located adjacent to the Portal football stadium behind the school on Highway 80 in Portal.

Students, faculty, families, community members and Portal alumni are invited to attend and mark the milestone with the school.

“This track is and will be a great resource for our students,” said Justin Chester, Portal’s athletic director and assistant principal. “We even hope the elementary school will be able to use it for field days or other events.”

The Portal track and field teams began training on the new complex earlier this winter in preparation for the spring season. They hosted their first-ever home track meet at the facility on March 15.

Prior to the construction of the complex, student athletes practiced on the football field and in the school’s parking lots. The new facility not only provides a proper training ground, but it also provides expanded physical education opportunities.

The complex was funded by revenues from Bulloch County Schools’ fourth Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST IV), which was renewed in 2017, to fund identified capital improvements to school district facilities. James W. Buckley & Associates led the project’s design phase, and construction began in May 2023, led by Pope Construction. The total investment for the project was $4.6 million.

Portal has four track and field teams with boys’ and girls’ teams for both its high school and middle school students. Track and field coaches for the teams include Tendai Haggins, Cliff Hubbard, David Seigler, Jalen Williams, and Jason McEachin. In December, Haggins was named the Georgia Coach of the Year for Boys Track & Field by the Georgia High School Athletic Association.