As students returned from winter break, some with New Year’s resolutions to work out consistently, they noticed that the lobby of Chrouser Sports Complex featured a new security checkpoint with optical turnstiles and a new front desk in the center of the lobby. The two-week construction project, which began on Jan. 2 and was completed on Jan. 16, now requires students to use their IDs to enter the building.
Prior to the renovations, the lobby had a front desk tucked along the side wall. A sign posted near the desk instructed patrons to scan their IDs, but most guests walked past the desk area without doing so. Chrouser was last renovated in 2000.
Bill Stukes, associate athletics director, said the renovations were for safety reasons.
“We had too many people just walking in and were having some problems with theft and unauthorized users,” he said. “When everything is fully operational everyone will either have to swipe a card or check in person at the desk. That way we can reasonably tell who has come in at any given time if there is an issue.”
Senior history and international relations major Keara Caragher, who plays on the women’s basketball team, noted that safety checkpoints with optical turnstiles are common at other collegiate athletic facilities, such as Washington University in St. Louis, which used the same vendor as Wheaton for its gate system.
“When we go play at another school, a lot of schools will have you scan your card to enter. I think it’s a combination of safety and just status quo,” she said.
Wheaton’s student-athletes spend hours every week training in the Chrouser sports complex, from team lifts to indoor practices and personal workouts. Many teams, such as the men’s and women’s basketball teams and the volleyball team, also play their home games in Chrouser, meaning friends and family who come to watch them play will be affected by the renovations. The scale of the recent renovations is small, though, and many athletes have voiced hopes that larger-scale renovations of Chrouser will improve their experiences while training.
For Caragher, the renovations have not changed her practice schedule, nor have they changed the number of people attending her team’s games. “The only thing it has changed is sometimes I forget to bring my card with me or have it on hand, and I have to stop and go through my backpack, but that’s it,” she said.
Similarly, sophomore health science major Paris Griffin said the renovations have not changed much for her or her teammates on the women’s volleyball team. “Most of the time, athletes are scanning in at the entrance, closer to Fischer, so coming in through the main doorway isn’t really a thing,” she said.
Griffin added that when athletes do scan in through the lobby, the turnstiles have a delay that can cause a backup as students wait for the gates to open after scanning. “But honestly, it’s a minor inconvenience,” she said.
Griffin also appreciated the improved aesthetics of the Chrouser lobby, especially the new front desk. “It’s really helpful for visitors because it’s obvious that this is a place they can go to for help. It just kind of keeps everything more organized,” she said.
“I believe it’s benefited Chrouser,” he said. “It makes it feel a little more professional.”
Junior nursing major Colin Jackson, who wrestled for Wheaton during his freshman and sophomore years but no longer competes because his resident assistant duties make him ineligible, still trains with the team. Like Griffin, Jackson said he has enjoyed the improvements to the aesthetic of the Chrouser lobby.
Caragher said some alumni have been confused as to why the scale of the renovation was so small. “I heard some alums in passing were talking about how that was the only thing in Chrouser that had changed since they were students,” she said. “A lot of athletes have talked about wanting a new weight room or an athletes-only weight room because some of the machines are pretty beat up in there.”
Similarly, Griffin said many athletes would like improved facilities throughout the rest of the sports complex. “I’d definitely want a bigger weight room or a separate weight room for football, at least,” she said.
Jackson said that although the weight room is meant for the campus as a whole, the football team often gets priority, even over other teams. “I do think because their team is so big, and weightlifting is probably more important to football than other sports, they end up getting priority,” he said. “A lot of athletes, mostly the football team, use the gym a lot in the early morning, and other people want to work out early, but then they can’t.”
Jackson is in favor of adding an athletes-only, or even football-only, weight room, saying that this would clear up space in the current weight room for other teams or people who are not athletes. “I think a football-only weight room would make sense. Not only would athletes benefit from that, but the campus in general,” he said.
Freshman communication major David Harvin II, who plays on the football team, agreed that having a bigger or separate weight room would improve team lifts in particular. “We’ve talked about how the weight room could be a little bit bigger just for the sake of the football team and the sake of other athletes as well,” he said.
Jackson said that the wrestling team, though fairly small, is the only team with their own locker room, aside from the men’s and women’s swim teams. “For other sports, they probably should update the locker rooms. The whole locker room setup could be better,” he said.
Harvin added that an additional locker room closer to McCully Stadium, where the football team plays home games, would be helpful. “We’d be able to leave our pads over there, rather than just carrying them all the way over or walking with our pads already strapped,” he said.
Caragher also said she thinks the training room is in need of expansion. “Our trainers work extremely hard, and they’re in a pretty cramped space,” she said. “They do what they can, especially when sports seasons overlap. When it’s the end of football season, end of soccer season, and then the start of basketball season, there’s like a million people in there.”
Stukes said minor work will be done in the entry over the summer to create a lounge area, potentially with a TV. “There are more major renovations planned for other parts of the building as part of the current capital campaign, but those are several years off,” he said.
