SYRACUSE – Wawasee will have a few new faces in its athletic department for the start of the 2014-15 season.

Last Tuesday the school board approved the hiring of Scott Lancaster as Wawasee’s new assistant athletic director.

Lancaster is a well-known person in the Wawasee community as he began teaching for the corporation in 2000. In his time as an educator, Lancaster has also has served as an assistant coach for the football and cross country programs and currently resides as the head coach for both the boys and girls track programs. Getting involved with athletic administration has been on Lancaster’s list for a while, he was just waiting for the opportunity to develop at Wawasee.

“I’ve been interested in doing this, but I just wanted to wait for the opportunity to come open at Wawasee. I really don’t want to go anywhere else.” said Lancaster. “So, the opportunity presented itself at the right time and in the right place.”

Lancaster replaces Cory Schutz, who served as the assistant athletic director for three years before leaving to become athletic director at Eastern (Greentown) High School in early June.

Athletic secretary Tammy Hutchinson announced that she will be moving across the Wawasee campus before the start of the new school year to take a job as a secretary in the administrative building.

Hutchinson has served as the athletic department’s secretary since 2000 and has become synonymous with the department’s events and image. Hutchinson completed her final day on the job as athletic secretary at last week’s Warrior Open and was too modest to give any formal comment about her change in position.

Despite not wanting to give a formal statement on her move, Hutchinson remarked to friends and Open participants throughout the day how much she loved her job and that it was just time for her to move on to something new.

Leslie Jackson will take Hutchinson’s seat as the new athletic secretary. Jackson most recently served as a secretary at Wawasee Middle School.

Wawasee did receive some positive news concerning its damaged athletic facilities. Damage done July 1 by strong winds to the tennis and soccer facilities left fencing and structural damage. The facilities were left untouched for two weeks as insurance adjusters needed to assess the extent of the damage. The adjusters have since done the analysis and plans are now underway to complete reconstruction.

There is no timetable or a direct cost immediately available, and the community is asked to take extreme caution near the damage, including inside the tennis courts.

The football stadium construction was not directly affected by the storm and continues as scheduled. Completion of the entryway and brick projects still hold an estimated early 2015 finish.