Natrona County nears completion on temporary facility

As far as temporary home courts go, the new digs for the Natrona County basketball, volleyball and wrestling teams are impressive.

The facility, which is located just west of Cheney Alumni Field, the Mustangs football stadium, replaces the gym that had served as Natronas home court since 1929. The Orange Dungeon was recently demolished as part of Natronas massive restoration project.

The facility will serve as the home court for the three winter sports teams until the competition gym is completed in four years, according to Natrona County Activities Director Larry Meeboer. In addition, the facility will house the schools cafeteria, the library and some classrooms for the time being.

This will be swing space while theyre working on the classrooms over (at the high school), Meeboer said during a walk-through of the new facility on Thursday. Eventually, there will be a 200-meter indoor track around the outside. And in the middle of that will be three side-by-side basketball courts. All of that will be done in four years.

Until then, the new facility will be home to Natronas defending state champion volleyball and girls basketball teams, as well as the boys basketball and wrestling teams. While the classrooms, cafeteria and library will eventually move back to the high school, what will remain even after the competition gym is finished are, among other things, a weight room, an aerobics room and a much-larger practice room for the wrestling team, all of which are located on the second floor.

The weight room and the aerobics room both overlook the courts and, because of large windows located at the back of each room, are flooded by natural light.

The old weight room was like a fallout shelter, longtime Natrona football head coach Steve Harshman said. With this new weight room weve got so much light that I might start growing again.

And even though the weight room is smaller than the one we had, there was a track around that one so I think this one is more efficient.

In addition to the indoor track and three basketball courts, the facility will serve as the permanent home for Natronas physical education department. According to Harshman, there will be 42,000 square feet of PE space, in the facility.

The Fillies volleyball program will be the first athletic team to practice in the facility beginning Aug. 18. For now, Natrona coach Michael Botkin has mixed feelings about his new home court.

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Natrona County nears completion on temporary facility