Warren Central track coach Larry Tyrone stood along the fence at Pearl High School’s gleaming palace of a stadium, watching his runners go through their paces and talking about his own meet next week with excitement and also a tinge of regret.

“We had people wanting to come from Shreveport, McComb, all over,” he said. “Then when they found out they couldn’t run they didn’t want to do it.”

Yes, Warren Central’s first home meet in two years, scheduled for Tuesday at 4 p.m., will be a track meet without the track. Only field events will be contested. On the one hand, it’s a novel idea that will allow Warren Central — and Vicksburg High, which will do the same on April 7 — to finally host a meet.

On the other hand, the backstory behind the meet is a sad one born of tight budgets and higher priorities.

Since they were last recoated about seven years ago, the tracks at both of Warren County’s high schools have fallen into disrepair. Much like a road, the rubberized surfaces get torn up as they’re traveled on and need to be resurfaced periodically.

It is not a cheap process.

Vicksburg Warren School District athletic director Lum Wright Jr. said the last recoating cost about $35,000, and a full replacement of the type that now needs to be done runs between $750,000 and $1 million.

Both tracks have become rutted with potholes and cracks that make them unsuitable for competition. Both teams still practice on them, although the day will come when that, too, is unsafe.

“We know where the holes are,” Tyrone said with a chuckle.

Considering what they’re training on, Warren County’s athletes have done an amazing job. Warren Central, Vicksburg and St. Al — which doesn’t even have a track; its runners train on a worn dirt path around the perimeter of the football field while the field athletes work on the inside of the fence — combined to win seven state championships and 15 medals at last year’s MHSAA state meet.

Having a quality track would almost certainly help them increase those numbers. A suitable facility would also allow both public high schools to once again host meets on a regular basis. That would save some money on travel costs and perhaps add some to the bottom line.

Tyrone said 21 schools competed in the last Warren Central Relays in 2013, each of them bringing fans and admission dollars through the gate and to the city. Right now, those dollars are going to Clinton and Pearl, which have modern first-rate facilities. Pearl has a stadium solely designed and used for track and field and hosts about a half-dozen meets during the high school season, including the state meet.

There’s certainly a long wish list when it comes to sports facilities at Warren Central and Vicksburg.

Artificial turf for the football fields is a common request. Each school also has gotten two new or upgraded fieldhouses, at a cost of about a million dollars apiece, in the past decade or so.

Considering that expenses for every major project need to be multiplied by two to accommodate each high school, and athletics isn’t the only item in the school district’s budget, it’s understandable even to those with a vested interest why the tracks have been put on the back burner.

“I make that request every year when we ask for funds,” Wright said. “But it’s hard to ask for $2 million when it’s hard to get books for our children.”

There are benefits to be had, however, from moving this project closer to the front burner. Hopefully it can get done in the next few years, before the ground literally crumbles out from underneath Warren County’s track teams.

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Ernest Bowker is a sports writer. He can be reached at 601-619-7120 or by email at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com