Meridian High's girls athletic teams also received a remodel to their weight room located in the multipurpose building, but will also have access to the bigger boys weight room as a team.

Meridian Public School District officials, along with MHS coaches and a few dozen student athletes, cut the ribbon Monday on the high school’s newly renovated boys and girls weight rooms.

“Our young men, I feel, will be able to compete at any level against any body. The playing field has been tremendously leveled,” school board vice president Ron Turner Sr. said of the new facility. “I mean, this rivals all of our competitors. All of our rival teams at the 7A level basically have weight rooms that look like this and now our guys are going to be able to compete at that very same level.”

Work to renovate the boys and girls weight rooms began nearly three years ago, but kept hitting snags due to construction delays from supply chain challenges or unexpected repairs. Together, the combined renovated rooms encompass more than 5,600 square feet of workout space and include 26 total MCats-branded workout stations for student athletes, including 19 in the boys weight room.

The total cost of the two renovation projects was about $450,000, which included the purchase of new weights and equipment, installation of new flooring, work to repair drainage issues under the old flooring and the completion of cosmetic renovations such as painting, new lighting and a mural along one wall.

“We’ve been working in here for many, many years, and I am just so glad that we got new weights and new stuff to lift because the other stuff was old,” said powerlifter Dane Hill. “This is a new era now.”

Meridian athletic director Cheyenne Trussell, who once worked out in the room as a student, said it looks completely different than the dark, low-ceiling room that reminded one of a dungeon.

“For those of you that can really remember, the ceiling was lower. You used to see those pipes running up there. The lighting’s been upgraded,” he said. “Once it’s fully completed within a month, we’ll have flat screen TVs on the wall, and we’ll have a sound system that’s also in here.”

Trussell thanked Superintendent Amy Carter and school board members for making the dream of a long-desired first-class weight room a reality at Meridian High.

“We have a lot of nice additions coming. We’ve already had some upgrades in place,” Trussell said in reference to other athletic projects, including the installation of new turf and a jumbotron-style scoreboard to the football field and construction of a a new baseball/softball complex. “But to me, this right here is so important because it actually, directly affects the performance on any game night.”

Coach Demetrius Hill, an assistant football coach and head boys and girls powerlifting coach, said the new modern equipment will be a tremendous asset to all of the sports programs.

“It’s something we’ve needed for many years and it’s finally here. Guys, as I’ve told you many times before, this is a foundation for how well you do on the field,” he said. “You come in here and bust your butt in the weight room, many things can happen for you. So, it’s not something I take lightly or the district takes lightly. So, they’re giving you the tools to get bigger, faster and stronger the way that we need to do to get to the next level so we can be in that fight for a state championship year after year.”

The weight equipment previously used in the boys weight room has been moved to Magnolia and Northwest schools to help start strength and conditioning programs at the middle school level, said Matt Davis, MPSD’s director of public relations.