The 2012 Southeastern Conference Championships will take place May 10-13 at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at its Bernie Moore Track Stadium. The historic, 5,680-seat facility—recognized as one of the finest track venues in the United States—features a Mondotrack surface, the official track of the 2012 London Olympics. The state-of-the-art track was installed in 2010 and replaced a 10-year-old polyurethane surface and 30-plus-year-old subsurface. Among the most important requirements for the replacement track were that it could stand up to Baton Rouge’s underground water tables and could withstand challenging soil conditions below the track brought on by the stadium’s location near the Mississippi River.
In addition, school officials felt it would be a huge advantage for their elite and Olympic-caliber athletes to train on the same surface that will be used at the next Olympic Games. “The track surface makes a tremendous difference for elite athletes training in the sprint events and developing rhythms for hurdles, so I was convinced Mondotrack was the right product for us,” said Dennis Shaver, head coach of LSU’s track and field team. “When you research recent NCAA, world and Olympic records, you find that the majority were accomplished on Mondo tracks. I believe the record-breaking performances are directly related to the research and development Mondo puts into its products and the emphasis the company places on producing tracks that reduce the force absorbed by athletes’ bodies.”