MONTAGUE — Montague High School’s new performance gymnasium is progressing well, and according to athletic director Jay Mulder, buzz is beginning to build among the students and athletes at the school who will soon get to utilize it.
“I have kids almost every day that say, ‘Hey, Coach, when can we get in there for games?’” Montague athletic director Jay Mulder said.
The answer is almost certainly before the end of the school year; the gym is on course to be completed next spring. There’s some optimism it may be completed before then, mostly because this last winter was a mild one and the contractors, led by WinBerg Construction, were able to work all through the winter.
“That’s the biggest thing right there,” said job site superintendent Dan Vincent. “I have a couple of really good subcontractors.”
While there’s hope of an accelerated timeline, understandably, no one is setting a date or necessarily planning for an early completion.
That said, should the gym be ready and cleared for mass occupancy by local authorities prior to the end of the winter sports season, Mulder said, the school would immediately move home events into it.
“Our plan is to hopefully have everything done so it will be a turn-key and we’ll be ready for business,” Mulder said.
The new gymnasium is the result of a school bond issue that was narrowly approved by district voters in August 2022. The bond also provided funds for a new agricultural barn for the high school and, if funds are available, will include new auditorium lights and upgrades to the performing arts center as well.
The most obvious change Wildcat fans will notice about the new gym will be its configuration. The entrance to the gym will be above the floor, with bleachers and stairs to go down to it. Such gyms often appear somewhat cavernous to new visitors, but Mulder said Montague took pains to ensure this one would maintain a cozy feel, with only “about 1,500” seats. The Wildcats did not want to completely lose the feel of their current gym, which is one of the most tightly packed in the area.
“There will not be a bad seat in it,” Mulder said. “We were very purposeful, because we wanted a (cozy) gym...We didn’t want it to seem like, ‘Oh my goodness, the gym is super big.’
“This gym will be a unique gym. There will be nothing like it in the area. I feel very fortunate for a school our size to have a new state of the art gym.”
The improvements will go beyond merely a prettier gym and better scoreboards, which CatchMark Technologies is furnishing. There will be practical benefits as well - the new arena will house an upgraded weight room. The increased space will also allow for keeping the winter sports teams under one roof rather than scattering them throughout the district for practices, which has often been necessary in the past.
“We’ll be able to have all our basketball teams practice in house,” Mulder said. “(Before,) they’d have to go to the middle school or RRO (Elementary) to have them all practice. We’ll be able to get the wrestling teams in house again. Right now they practice at the middle school cafeteria.”
Mulder allows that like his athletes, he’s also getting fired up for the gym’s opening, especially because he has a view of it from his office at the school. Whenever the day comes to host events, the Wildcats will be ready to roll.
“You see the progress made in just over a year, and it’s phenomenal,” Mulder said. “We’re very excited to get in there and I know our kids are feeling the excitement as well.”
