High school opens auxiliary gym

The Churchill County School District trustees met before its weekly meeting Thursday for the ribbon cutting ceremony of Churchill County High School’s new auxiliary gym.

The project, which broke ground in June, has been completed and was officially opened to the school and the public. School board President Clay Hendrix welcomed members of the community to socialize and freely explore the new gym room to room after commending all who where involved with the project.

“If you look at this building you will see we have another great party of Churchill County,” Hendrix said. “We didn’t build this building just for CCHS. I think as members of the board we realized our obligation not only to the school district but to the entire county and we stepped up to the plate.”

Superintendent Dr. Sandra Sheldon along with the entirety of the board commended architect Brad Van Woert, Project Manager Paul Eskeldson and the multiple subcontractors from the community who worked on the gym throughout the years as well as board members Greg Koenig and Ron Evans among the project’s first supporters back when the decision was a 4-3 vote.

“This is going to be here in the district for many, many years enjoyed by several generations of kids and parents,” Sheldon said. “Thanks to the community for passing the bond and I hope we can enjoy this.”

The auxiliary gym situated on the east side of the track as the newest part of the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex, was funded by the Capital Projects Bond passed in 2008. It was driven by tax payer revenue for the purpose of major projects in the community. The bond granted this project, the second-to-last major project of this fiscal year, a $6.2 million budget for the project after other incentives in the community were revisited.

Eskeldson, who has been with the project since design first began in 2014 long after the vote, said the final numbers are expected to be under budget, leaving leftover funds from the bond.

“We’re working on some final reconciliations with that, but we’re definitely going to be under budget on the project,” Eskeldson said.

The first major component of the gym is a full court, immediately visible inside the entrance, designed to host basketball, volleyball and general physical education classes with a divider on the ceiling for separate/private practice sessions. Parallel to the court is a hallway featuring three brand new locker rooms — the standard two for boys and girls teams as well as one locker room for officials/referees to use.

The second space of the gym, through the double doors at the opposite end of the basketball court, has been nicknamed “the wrestling room” a grey stone room wide enough to suitably host two large mats for wrestling practices and tournaments.

The initial benefit is the added space for CCHS teams to practice, particularly since teams such as varsity basketball and wrestling have had to share space. This has resulted in practices beginning as early as 5:30 a.m. and evening practices running as late as 11 p.m. The back room designated for wrestling will allow coaches to leave mats out without constantly rolling and unrolling them in preparation for practice, known to make mats more prone to germs and infectious diseases according to Eskeldson.

“The high school site has been modified so many times over so many years with different additions and different expansions not always well documented on where the line is going to move,” Eskelsdon said on the arguably most difficult aspect of construction. “The big use will really come in the fall with winter sports such as volleyball, basketball and wrestling when they start hitting their stride.”

In addition to the benefits to team practices, CCHS Athletic Director Brad Daum also said the gym will be something not just for the community to use but to benefit from since, thanks to the added space, Fallon will be hosting the regional volleyball tournament and regional track meet this year in addition to other bigger meets and tournaments than normal for Fallon.

“It’s a win-win for the community and for us especially at the high school for our kids and the sports programs,” Daum said. “But overall everybody’s going to see the benefits down the line.”

The school itself is already seeing the benefits since the gym hosted its first official event on Saturday, the Jock and Jamboree Alumni Basketball Tournament which raised $1,800 for the CCHS basketball program.

While a major motivating point behind the gym’s construction was the inclusion of more and larger events, Eskeldson also noted the position of the lobby and the exterior bathrooms facing the track will also improve the quality of events already in Fallon such as the recent flux of larger track meets and visitors pouring in during the fall football season.

“This way visiting teams have easier access to the close by restrooms on either side of the building’s face whereas before they had to run a long distance to the school,” Eskeldson said, pointing out the direction of the lobby which many initially interpreted as a design flaw facing away from the parking lot. “It’s also accessible from visitor bleachers during future football games.”

Aside from the benefit to the athletic department’s reputation, Trustee Richard Gent added hosting a better quality and greater quantity of events brings in significant revenue to the community, supporting local business from motels where teams from further away stay in town to restaurants and more.

“The good thing about this school board is even though we disagree at the start we sometimes come together,” Gent said, one of the three originally voting against the project. “Even though we started out being against the point was made building a gym like this was going to benefit the community and that now we can have more tournaments, we can bring more people here and help the community grow.”

Gent also said he was pleased the project came in under budget, commending Eskeldson for being instrumental in crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s.

“Bringing this under budget allows us to apply that (remainder) to other areas of the school,” Gent said. “For example we’re looking at a new music room and improvements to the theater. That’s huge.”

On the topic of upcoming programs such as these, Gent said the use of the sum for the gym is not taking away from other programs in a major way but is still well in line with money designed for improving the district.

Also among the formerly reluctant board members, clerk Carmen Schank also expressed her newfound gratitude in light of the gym’s completion despite being on the opposite side of the former decision.

“I consider myself pretty conservative and I feel like this is a really good use of bond monies,” Schank said. “At first I was a little hesitant about it, but I feel really good about it and towns from around will come and use it. They’ll have track meets from every other state in Nevada, so it will be a wonderful facility to use.”

In his 12th and final year with the school board, Koenig said he was happy to see the project he favored come to fruition before his term ends.

“The community needed it and the school needed it,” Koenig said. “It’s going to make it so the kids aren’t practicing at 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. Plus with the tournaments we’re going to be able to have here, this turned out better than we expected.”