RACE building continues to push toward completion

The+RACE+building+is+currently+on+track+to+be+finished+by+June+of+2021.+Construction+of+the+structure+itself+has+recently+been+completed.+

Julia Maenius

The RACE building is currently on track to be finished by June of 2021. Construction of the structure itself has recently been completed.

Julia Maenius, Assistant Sports Editor

UTSA Athletics administration, President Taylor Eighmy, President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lisa Campos, members of the Roadrunner Foundation and head football coach Jeff Traylor celebrated a topping out ceremony on Monday, marking the completion of the Roadrunner Athletics Center of Excellence (RACE) building structure. The $41.5 million athletics center is on schedule to be completed in June of 2021.
“We are really excited that everything has been on schedule, and we just had a topping off ceremony, which is a symbolic event when all of the steel structure has been put in place, that was when the walls went up, and previous to that, all of the foundational slab had been poured,” Campos said. “Things have been moving very quickly, and things are on schedule to be completed on time.”
The RACE building will be an advancement to the athletics department, and it will include state-of-the-art training facilities, locker rooms, sports medicine facilities and offices for UTSA athletics department coaches and staff.
“Currently, our athletic training sports medicine department is literally in a trailer,” Campos said. “It is not sufficient to serve 350 plus student athletes. We have no rehabilitation space, so it is something that definitely needed upgrading. Up until before COVID, my offices and all of our administrative offices were off campus. Our strength and conditioning program will be updated in this building.”

New coaching offices will be constructed in the building, along with synthetic turf practice fields and meeting rooms for student athletes.
“When you look at coaches’ offices, particularly for golf, soccer, track and field, they are also in trailers, so this will move them into a permanent building,” Campos said.
The RACE building will span 10.8 acres of land on the southwest corner of UTSA’s Main Campus.
“This is going to be a facility for all student athletes,” Campos said. “The three major components for all student athletes will be the strength and conditioning weight room, the sports medicine department and we also will have academic space. This is much-needed space for our student athletes to do their tutorials, have access to computer labs and to do their group sessions.”
Advancing the future of UTSA’s athletic endeavors by providing facilities to house all of the athletics department on Main Campus culminates a winning atmosphere for the current student athletes and a standard of excellence for recruits in the future.
“This is really two-fold,” Campos said. “For our current student athletes, really moving into a space that more adequately suits them and to mirror what they have on the academic side and on the housing side. For future recruits, as we know, if it is student athletes or non-student athletes, students are making their school choices based on facilities and looking at the total package.”