Taking his competitor to the mat, All-American wrestler Ryan Benca competes in the growing wrestling program in 2021. He practices with the rest of his team in a renovated maintenance shed on campus.
Proposition C: Cramped quarters
Growing wrestling program practices in former maintenance shed
Junior Melina Gutierrez and her wrestling teammates do not go to the gym to practice, nor do they head to the field house down the hill.
They go to a maintenance shed converted into a wrestling facility. Officials cleared out the space and added mats, and only a few years ago, the team added in logos. They still have to replace the weak air conditioning unit, which in Texas, is brutal for athletes.
Proposition C in Comal ISD’s bond election would set aside $61.5 million to renovate and construct a new athletics facility for the wrestling team and for other spring sports, as well as projects at other high schools and middle schools.
Voting takes place Nov. 2, and early voting continues through Friday.
The bond will fund a new athletics field house and locker rooms for the wrestling and soccer teams, and the existing wrestling facility would be renovated.
“Like every sport, locker space is challenging right now,” wrestling coach Tim Clarkson said. “The spring sports locker area, I mean, we’re just, we’re packed in. There’s not enough locker space for the kids.”
Clark said he would vote for Proposition C.
“The reason I’m in favor of the proposition is, our program has grown to the point where we have outgrown our existing facility and we have to have multiple practices at different times of the day,” he said.
Clarkson worries the wrestling team is being put at a disadvantage because of the lack of a good wrestling facility and lockers.
“The majority of the teams that we compete against all have stand-alone, much larger practice facilities,” he said. “We need to double our practice space, and we need to have adequate locker facilities for our kids.”
The proposed bond will give athletes on the wrestling team a better facility to practice in and a better chance at winning.
“The wrestling room we have right now is small for the amount of wrestlers we have,” Gutierrez said. “So getting a new facility would be great.”