YOUNGSTOWN - Allison Ludwig and Kyle Joynes couldn't help but peer through the windows high atop Stambaugh Stadium that provided a bird's-eye view across Fifth Avenue.
The two Youngstown State University athletes saw the dirt piles behind McDonald's, piles that eventually will be flattened and turned into a new softball stadium.
Ludwig and Joynes weren't so much focused on that as they were to the gravel oval and greyish infield just north - representing the base of what's to come for the YSU community.
Both saw the new soccer complex and an eight-lane, all-weather track. The softball field, track and soccer field are part of the Fifth Avenue Athletic Complex.
"It looks great and the progress looks awesome," said Ludwig, a 5-6 junior forward on the women's soccer team. "It's really exciting to have our own field for my senior year.
"It'll be a really nice send off for me to play at our own field for the first year."
Friday, in the DeBartolo Room, Farmers National Bank presented a $500,000 check to YSU for this athletic complex. The project is estimated at more than $4 million. In turn, pending approval from the YSU Board of Directors in its March 2013 meeting, the soccer complex will be named Farmers National Bank Field.
"We're committed to giving back to the community," said John S. Gulas, president and chief executive officer of Farmers National Banc Corp./Farmers National Bank.
The soccer field, which will have synthetic turf, will be used by YSU intramural and club sports, along with the women's soccer team. The YSU women currently play at Stambaugh Stadium.
"We think this is going to be a Grade-A facility," Gulas said.
In addition to the track, soccer area and softball field, which are all slated to be completed in the summer of 2013, lighting, stands, restrooms, walkways and fencing are part of the complex.
"It is an aesthetic difference to the campus, but to the university as well," YSU president Cynthia E. Anderson said.
In addition to the YSU club, intramural and varsity teams, Anderson hopes the other area athletes take advantage of these facilities.
"We're hoping our high schools make use of this complex as well," she said.
One of those former high school athletes, Joynes, said having the new track means a lot to his team.
"I'm thankful to have a new track," said Joynes, a YSU freshman distance runner and McDonald High School graduate. "It makes you want to train harder, be able to do workouts. I think a lot of us on our team are thankful this is being put in.
"You look out on it and it gets you excited seeing the round shape so far."
