By Julie Slama | [email protected]

The last phase of the multi-year Hillcrest High rebuilding process is getting the new soccer, baseball and softball fields and tennis courts ready to play.

Construction has been underway, starting with evening out the former school grounds for the playing areas.

“We’re hoping they’ll be done early October,” Canyons Chief Financial Officer and Business Administrator Leon Wilcox said. “The students won’t be able to play on the fields this fall as we have to let them settle. The idea always has been to start with the 2023 baseball and softball and boys soccer seasons in the spring. Girls soccer will still be playing at East Midvale (Elementary) this fall.”

He said the girls tennis program can begin playing on the courts once completed.

“There's a chance hopefully they'll get to play a little bit on them (this season),” he said.

Other than the sports fields, there may be “just a few items to complete, the biggest thing is just fine-tuning the mechanical system to ensure it’s not too hot or too cold,” Wilcox said. “It can take several months to fine-tune it in a building that big, to get everything lined up properly.”

The rebuilding of Hillcrest began with a ceremonial dig in May 2018. Then new fieldhouse and gymnasiums for the Huskies, followed by the main, four-story academic wing tying into the then five-year-old STEM building. Now, four years later, the class of 2023, who has been in the trenches of construction during their high school careers, should see the completion of the school and fields shortly before their graduation.

The $121,659,600 new home of the Huskies sits on the 38-acre campus and was made possible when voters approved a $283-million tax-neutral bond in 2017.