Clark athletics finds new home on web

The athletics pages on Clark College's website will be laid to rest next week. A new, separate athletics website is going to launch.

The website, designed by Presto Sports, is scheduled to be ready for use at the end of this week, two weeks ahead of the original projected launch date. The website's domain name has not been decided, but options such as ClarkPenguins.com have been discussed.

Assistant men's basketball coach Garet Studer is in charge of updating and running the new website. He's been adding material to the website ferociously to make sure it is ready on time.

"I think it's coming together nicely," Studer said of the new website.

The new page will feature rosters, schedules, statistics, team pictures and other information for each sport. In addition, a calendar will be available on the front page to alert users of upcoming athletic events.

There will also be a news section for athletics that will contain articles from The Independent. Studer has also added articles from the fall sports season, so users can access past articles as well.

The current athletics pages on the Clark website require little upkeep. The new website, however, requires a lot more time and work.

"The biggest problem, of course, is keeping it updated," Interim Athletic Director Denny Huston said. "We haven't had the manpower to do such a thing."

Studer is optimistic that the website may attract future student athletes to Clark.

"Information about the coaches is available on the website," Studer said. "Coaches can use it as a recruiting tool."

The website will also feature a "Student Athletes of the Month" section, as well as a "Next Level Penguins" section that will take a look at alumni athletes and where they are now.

Clark is one of only a handful of junior colleges to receive a website from PrestoSports, designer of over 200 collegiate athletics websites. The company has designed websites for mostly Division I, Division II and Division III institutions.

Funding for the website came from the Penguin Athletic Club, a booster group that has been helping Clark athletics financially since 1995.

Huston, who signed the contract to get the website going, is very enthusiastic about the new page.

"This is what projects the image of your institution," Huston said. "This is going to be a very, very good product."

Contact Dan Ellertson at d.ellertson@students.clark.edu.