A water pipe burst last Thursday night, flooding Bennett Gym and threatening the cancellation of Welcome Week basketball.

The gym was cleaned up and restored to a playable condition just in time for Welcome Week activities to begin.

“I was out of town Friday, but Kenli came into the office Friday morning and found the gym flooded,”said Assistant Intramural Director Mark Jackson.

Leaking water onto the gym’s floor, the pipe was located in the parking lot behind the intramural office in Bennett.  When Intramural Director Kenli Edwards came into work Friday morning, the wood floor was covered in water and mud.

“We used dehumidifiers to pull up over 200 gallons of water from the courts,” Edwards said. ” They are still pulling water out of the gym, so 200 gallons and counting.”

The universities cleaning crew, WFF Facility Services, was called in to help clean up the gym floor. They were able to mop and sweep the floor to remove the mud and standing water from the gym.

“WFF mopped and swept until the floor was clean,” Edwards said. ” They did a great job and helped get the court ready for Welcome Week.”

A-Town tech came in after WFF and set up tents and dehumidifiers to remove water from the court. The intramural staff was able to monitor the condition of the court and decided that the court was safe enough to play on.

Some of the boards had water spots on them, while others parts of the court were still slick.

“At this time I do not know if it will be replaced,” Edwards said. “I hope for the students that it will be. Not only for their safety, but also just to have a better court to play on this year while the recreation center is under construction.”

Welcome week intramural sports went on without any major injuries. Intramural football and volleyball will begin in September and November, respectively, allowing for longer soccer, softball and basketball seasons this spring.

“There is no waterball this year because we can’t use the pool,” Edwards said. “However, we will be able to have longer seasons for all of our spring sports because we are moving volleyball to the fall semester.”