SNOW STORM PUTS A DENT IN GYM FLOOR

The Saints women’s and men’s basketball teams have wrapped up their delayed and shortened seasons – without playing a single game this spring on their home Gresham campus court.

That’s because the major February snow- and icestorm that left tens of thousands of customers without power in Portland-Gresham caused extensive water damage to MHCC’s main court floor in the Yoshida Events Center gymnasium.

It will take another couple of months – and nearly a half-million dollars (covered mostly by insurance) for damaged portions of the gym floor to be replaced, hopefully by mid-August. A leak in the gymnasium roof went undetected while students and faculty were kept off campus, due to snow closures starting the weekend of Feb. 13-14. Faculty discovered and surveyed the damage – believed to occur when frozen water thawed and leaked through roof vents – only after it was ruled safe to return to campus, and they later determined the extent of repairs needed. About one-third of the main gym floor has been warped by the water damage, specifically a sizable portion of the center court that hosts the regulation size basketball and volleyball courts.

Unfortunately for the Saints hoops teams, the side courts that received little-to-no damage do not meet the full-size regulations for college basketball. The squads were able to practice on these side courts, but their smaller size hindered those drills.

“(It made) it difficult for our teams to simulate the full-court experience when preparing for games,” said Kim Hyatt, MHCC Dean of Health, Physical Education, Athletics, Aquatics, & Recreation. “But I have been very proud of their commitment and perseverance to rise to this challenge on top of COVID.”

Asked if alternative, neutral sites could have been used for scheduled NWAC home basketball games, Hyatt said strict COVID restrictions ruled out sharing athletic facilities anywhere near Gresham. As a result, all the women’s and men’s Saints games were played on their opponents’ floors.

In April, the MHCC District Board approved spending $480,000 on repairing the gym flooring, to be reimbursed by insurance that covered the incident.

Repairs are expected to begin this month and work to be completed before volleyball contests resume in September and the Yoshida Events Center hosts important Fall Term activities such as Student Welcome Day.

It’s also hoped the repairs won’t interfere with health and physical education classes and access to other student activities during Fall Term. As it stands, several classes might be modified to remote or hybrid models due to ongoing COVID safety restrictions.