May 11, 2025
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St. Bede to host inaugural high school track meet April 27

Thursday’s event will be the first on the track completed in 2017

By Shaw Local News Network
St. Bede Academy will host its inaugural high school track meet at 4 p.m. on April 27 on the Capt. Thomas J. Heitmann Memorial Track. This meet will carry out the longtime dream of the 2002 St. Bede graduate whom the track is named after.

St. Bede Academy will host its inaugural high school track meet at 4 p.m. Thursday on the Capt. Thomas J. Heitmann Memorial Track. This meet will carry out the longtime dream of the 2002 St. Bede graduate whom the track is named after. (Photo provided by St. Bede Academy)

St. Bede Academy will host its inaugural high school track meet at 4 p.m. Thursday on the Capt. Thomas J. Heitmann Memorial Track. This meet will carry out the longtime dream of the 2002 St. Bede graduate whom the track is named after.

Heitmann started a campaign to raised funds for a track at St. Bede before he was killed in a helicopter accident Sept. 19, 2011, at Camp Pendelton, California, while serving as a U.S. Marine.

Heitmann holds the 800-meter school record and was a member of the record-holding 4x800 relay team. After his death, his family picked up the work of the campaign, which ended up going coast to coast.

A total of $450,000 was raised for the project, and SBA broke ground on the track in spring 2017. The track was completed that fall.

Before there was a track at St. Bede, members of the team, including Heitmann, trained in the school’s parking lot and in its stairwells and basement. Having a track at St. Bede has allowed the program to grow immensely, according to St. Bede’s track coach Marty Makransky.

“Having the ability to practice pole vault, hurdles, the long jump, high jump and triple jump in sandpits and the relay handoffs on the track, it’s really changed us,” Makransky said. “Our field events have really benefited by having an area to practice on. Having our own track, it’s really been amazing.”

The track also allowed for the first St. Bede pole-vaulter since the 1980s. Following the completion of the track, St. Bede waited for the opportunity to host a track meet.

In 2020 and 2021, meets were canceled because of COVID-19 and in 2022, a meet was canceled because of inclement weather.

Superintendent Eve Postula looks forward to Thursday’s event as she acknowledged all those who came together to see this dream become a reality, including the St. Bede Monks, the Heitmann family, the Bedan Club, past members of the St. Bede track team and St. Bede family and friends.

A blessing of the track will take part by Abbot Michael Calhoun, OSB at 3:40 p.m., before the field events begin about 4 p.m.

Schools participating in the meet include St. Bede, Earlville, Henry-Midland and Marquette Academy.