A crew from Cincinnati Flooring is scrambling to get the gym floor at Bellefontaine High School repaired in time for Friday’s home boys basketball game against Springfield Shawnee.
Bellefontaine City Schools superintendent Brad Hall said the work began Tuesday and is expected to be completed by Thursday.
The damage was a result of a CrossFit competition hosted by Mad River CrossFit of Bellefontaine on Saturday. The repeated dropping of weights caused 19 spots across the center of the floor to be dented or cracked.
Saturday’s home boys game against Vandalia-Butler was postponed. Tuesday’s boys game against Urbana had to be played at Indian Lake. A girls game against Graham that was scheduled for tonight has been rescheduled and a home wrestling meet for Thursday against Urbana had to be moved to the Hillclimbers’ gym.
Hall said the school received a letter of apology from Cale Marker of Mad River CrossFit. The letter, addressed to the basketball players and cheerleaders, expressed regret for the teams having to lose their home games and also stated that MRC plans to accept responsibility for the damage. MRC is currently working with its insurance company to begin addressing the payment of repairs.
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Todd Cozad of Cincinnati Flooring cuts a board this morning while repairing damaged sections of the gym floor at Bellefontaine High School. The damage was a result of a CrossFit competition Saturday. The repairs are expected to be completed in time for Friday’s home boys basketball game against Springfield Shawnee. (EXAMINER PHOTO | MATT HAMMOND) |
According to the BCS superintendent, the cost of the temporary repairs is around $5,000. There are two permanent options. The first would be to feather new wood strips into the places where the damaged wood was removed. The entire floor would then need to be sanded down and refinished. That option would cost around $30,000.
The second option would be to completely replace the floor. The price tag for that would be in the $125,000 to $150,000 range.
“At this point, it is feeling like there will have to be a total replacement,” said Hall.
In addition to damage to the floor, the repair crew found damage to some of the sub-flooring.
The unfortunate circumstances coming out of the CrossFit event have school officials re-evaluating what is going to be allowed to take place in the gym in the future.
“We definitely have to take a closer look at what happens on our wood floor,” said Hall. “We need to have a full understanding of what (the renter) will be doing.”
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