Mary Ragsdale Fitness Area Opens for Business

More than 150 students, faculty and staff crowded the remodeled hall in the P.E. Center for the grand opening of the new Mary Ragsdale Fitness Area on Sept. 8.

In the morning ceremony, President Kent Chabotar and Mary Ragsdale’s son William (Billy) Ragsdale III ’66 cut the ribbon tied across the area’s entry staircase, and the audience poured into the 10,000 square-foot workout room for the first time.

The new space includes a cardio area with treadmills, recumbent bikes and elliptical trainers; a field turf-covered workout area with a medicine ball station, racks of stability balls, exercise mats and training hurdles; a large weight-training section; and stretching areas.

Additionally, a new lighted outdoor recreational basketball court was constructed over the summer adjacent to the fitness area. A beach volleyball court will follow.

The renovated area has a health club feel, with brightly painted walls, a vaulted ceiling and natural light from its large windows overlooking the Guilford lake and woods. Large flat-screen TVs and a sound system (to follow) are features of the new space.

The space is named for Mary Perry Ragsdale, a long-term college supporter who died in 2003 at age 93. Gifts from Ragsdale funded improvements to the P.E. Center’s Warrick-Ragsdale Room and some of the costs of the fitness area construction.

The fitness area is the result of a months-long plan to repurpose the former swimming pool area. The pool was closed last spring due to deteriorating conditions. Administrators considered several uses for the space, and comments from the college community strongly favored relocating and expanding the existing fitness facilities. In July, the pool was filled and paved over.

The previous weight room will be turned into group exercise studios for yoga, tai chi and dance classes. The college has made arrangements for the women’s swim team to practice and compete off-campus.

The area’s entrance from the upper level of the P.E. Center was also renovated. Previously, students could only reach the lower level by crossing through locker rooms to a narrow staircase. Now, a new hallway clearly leads visitors from the P.E. Center lobby to the fitness area’s check-in desk.

For operating hours and more information, contact manager Mike Merkel at 316-2850 or mmerkel@guilford.edu, or call the fitness area desk at 316-2311.

Sept. 9, 2009