The topping-off ceremony for the Marksman Athletic Complex April 16 marked the most significant milestone in its construction so far.

During the ceremony, students, faculty and staff watched as a crane hoisted the final steel beam of the building up and put it into place. The beam was covered by the signatures of those involved in the building’s construction and the members of the Class of 2024.

“It’s a huge deal to see this happening,” Athletics Director Sean Lissemore said. “From the start, from the planning to the groundbreaking to all the progress I’ve watched and the vertical pieces coming together, it’s been an exciting time for the school.”

The topping-off represents the latest development in the building’s progress. It is slated to be completed by this winter, in time for next year’s winter sports to use the facility. Construction has been on track so far.

“We’re still looking at this winter for the ribbon cutting, so everything’s still on time as projected,” Lissemore said.

As soon as the project is complete, it’ll be ready for use almost immediately for sports ranging from swimming to basketball.

“As soon as everything’s opened up and functional, we’ll be using it, and we’re looking forward to that,” Lissemore said. “I know everyone’s champing at the bit.”

The athletic complex is the school’s latest major project after completing Winn Science Center five years ago. Given the project’s sheer scope and the significant expansion it promises to bring to the school’s athletics, meticulous planning has been going into its construction process since day one. The work has received input from all levels, from coaches to the school’s business office, which helped to influence what the building will become. 

“It’s been an incredible team effort and there’s been involvement with coaches and staff in our department and a lot of different people on campus,” Lissemore said. “And there’s been different phases to the planning process, which included selecting an architect, going on site visits, looking at other schools and other athletic facilities, and putting all these ideas together until we’ve formulated a plan. Then, we started the building process.”

As soon as the ceremony ended, the project moved into its next stage, with the exterior of the building being put up around the now-completed framework. For the many members of the community, including the seniors, who got to leave their literal mark on the building and the campus, it was a unique and special experience.

“When I was just a younger Marksman, seeing the seniors sign their names on that beam for the Winn Science Center—it was a really cool thing to watch,” senior Adam Kappelman said. Now, here we are as seniors signing off the beam, putting our own John Hancocks on it. It’s just a really, really cool thing—it’s like coming full circle for me.”