A group of local dignitaries gathered Sept. 1 at Point Loma High School to formally dedicate the school’s new artificial turf football field and state-of-the-art weight room. Vice Principal Kevin Gormly hosted the event held before the kickoff of the first varsity game ever played on the revitalized Bennie Edens Field surface. The football field was resurfaced by Byrom-Davey, Inc. of San Diego over the summer break. Electrical lines for future projects and water lines to cool and sanitize the field surface were added below ground. The cost was about $1.4 million. The school’s former weight training room was condemned and torn down several years ago, prompting former PLHS parent Lisa Tumbiolo to write and submit a grant request to the Jimmie Johnson Foundation to fund a new facility. Former student body president Josh Morse created a video documenting the post-condemnation situation, including weight equipment that sat rusting outdoors. Johnson, of NASCAR racing fame, who grew up in El Cajon, personally reviews the applications and awarded $90,000 to Point Loma High. The San Diego Unified School District, which had a new weight room for PLHS on the Proposition S projects schedule several years off, agreed to advance the project and fund the building with the allocated funds. Pointer coaches researched the best strength-and-conditioning equipment available and purchased it with the $90,000 original grant money.