MOSCOW, Idaho – Matt and Jill McCluskey have donated $1 million to the University of Idaho track and field program in honor of their daughter Lauren, a former University of Utah track and field student-athlete who was murdered in 2018 by a man she briefly dated.
The money will be used to resurface the Kibbie Dome indoor track, which will be named in her honor.
"We hope that Lauren's light will shine through the current and future athletes who train and compete on what was her home track," The McCluskey family said. "With this resurfaced track, Lauren will always have a presence in the Kibbie Dome."
Lauren trained at the dome extensively while growing up eight miles away in Pullman, Washington. She was a Washington high school state champion in the high jump and set the Pullman High School 100-meter hurdles record.
During the winter, she was welcomed by University of Idaho student-athletes and coaches, several of whom coached her for her youth competitions.
"We are grateful and honored to receive this generous gift from the McCluskey family," Athletic Director
Terry Gawlik said. "Lauren's legacy of kindness, hard work and competitive spirit will now be permanently etched in the floor of the Kibbie Dome and will impact student-athletes for generations. We hope to continue to honor her and work with the McCluskey family to fulfill the mission of her foundation in meaningful ways."
The track will feature a Mondotrack Super X surface. Mondo produced the track surface for the last six Summer Olympic games and over 290 world records have been set on Mondo products. The track will be installed by Idaho-based Wall 2 Wall Commercial Flooring.
Included in the infield for the 300-meter track large University of Idaho branding and lettering that include Lauren's name will be integrated into the track design. It will be the largest logo ever integrated into a track and field system.
"We are honored to be part of this project and have the opportunity to help memorialize Lauren McCluskey, her competitive spirit and her love of track and field," Wall 2 Wall Commercial Flooring President Bill Bohrer said. "The Kibbie Dome is iconic and we are excited to take on the challenge of integrating Lauren's name, along with Idaho branding into our manufacturing process as part of the surface; they will endure for the life of the track. The Lauren McCluskey Track will exhibit speed and beauty and the latest technology. We couldn't be prouder to be a part of this project."
The south side of the dome floor, inside of the track, where Vandal basketball played for decades, will now become the home of Idaho tennis. Four competition courts will take the spot of the former Cowan Spectrum.
The new surface will provide a permanent home for the Vandals tennis to train and compete and give unprecedented access for fans and spectators to watch duals. With 8,000 seats on the south side of the Kibbie Dome, it will immediately have one of the largest seating capacities of any collegiate tennis facility in the country.
The McCluskeys received settlement funds from the University of Utah and its insurers, who acknowledged that they should have done more to protect Lauren. The family has pledged to donate the entire settlement to support the missions of the Lauren McCluskey Foundation, which include improving campus safety, supporting amateur athletics and animal welfare. The donation to the University of Idaho is directly from the McCluskeys and not from the Lauren McCluskey Foundation.
