The wrestling room flooded on Sunday, March 19, due to a burst pipe. Iowa Wrestling posted a video of the water pouring from the ceiling. It now has 34,700 views and almost 3,000 likes on Instagram and 57,000 views and almost 8,000 likes on Tiktok.

The problem began on Sunday, March 19, at about 11:20 AM when the pipe in the ceiling above the wrestling room started to leak. By noon the pipe had fully burst. That set off the water pressure valve, which in-turn set off the fire alarm. The water rushed from the pipe for 45 minutes before the Pella Firefighters and Police could identify the problem. 

The damage that was done to the room was immense. The insurance company called it a complete loss of the mats, subflooring layer, two layers of plywood, and a little bit of foam that keeps the plywood up off the concrete. The Activities Director for the High School, Matt Fouch, has gotten quotes back for the mat. The estimated quotes are around 24,000 dollars. But he expects that the total cost of everything will be around 40,000 dollars. The room is completely covered by insurance, so nothing will come out of the school’s pocket. 

Fouch also says that this was the best possible place for a pipe to burst. If a pipe in another location would have burst, school would have been canceled the Monday after Spring Break. Since the wrestling mat area is set about 3 inches below the regular floor and the mats are absorbent, the water did not sit and then overflow into other areas, like if it were to happen in a classroom. 

Jay Pike, the boys wrestling coach, is determined to make the best of it.

“As much as we wished it didn’t happen, it could always be worse,” said Pike.  “With our district only having one wrestling room for our entire district to share, it’s tough not having one, but we will manage in the meantime.”