Chattanooga Christian School is honoring longtime track and cross country coach Mike Fingerle by naming the school track for him.
The Michael Fingerle Track will be dedicated in a ceremony on April 20 at 3:50 p.m. on the CCS campus.
School officials said, "In 1987, Mike came to CCS as the first high school cross country coach beginning that fall with a club team of a dozen boys. In Mike’s second year at CCS, he began the middle school track program. In the early 1990s, Mike moved to the job of coaching the middle and high school teams together, but later moved to focus solely on the high school track team.
"Mike has been instrumental in building this program at CCS. He has developed two unique track meets; the Charger Challenge for elementary school students and the Charger Relays for high school athletes."
Although coach Fingerle has stepped down from the head coaching position in both sports, he continues to remain active by helping organize and host the Chattanooga Cross Country Festival and by serving as an assistant track coach.
Through his coaching efforts, Fingerle led led the Chargers to three girls state cross country championships (1999-2000-2011) and two boys state cross country crowns (1995-96).
"During his years as the high school track coach, he has had an athlete set a state record in the triple jump, has had numerous first place individual performances at the state meet, had a men’s sectional championship team, and a girls’ state runner-up championship team," a school official stated.