It would be easy to say that the Hill City community got a new gymnasium recently, but that would be selling the new facility — open to the community for the past two weeks — just a bit short.

“The community weight room is as good as any around,” Hill City activities director Shawn Woodward said. “There have been around 15 to 20 people in there every night since it opened, and a lot of people have been amazed. We’ve got a lot of people that went to school at Black Hills and Tech and they feel like our facility is as good as some small college facilities.”

The brand-new fitness center and gymnasium has a weight room and fitness center for community members, a wrestling room for the high school, a student weight room for physical education and athletic programs and a beautiful new gymnasium with a 125-meter running track running around the top of Coach Gins’ Court, named for the late Cory Ginsbach, a former Hill City coach and activities director. The gym will seat somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 fans.

“It turned out great, it really did,” Hill City superintendent Mark Naugle said. “We’re really excited about heading into the winter sports season.”

The gymnasium has hosted just one event so far, a Hill City versus Lead-Deadwood volleyball game at the end of the regular season. The new facility gives the Rangers a lot more flexibility in terms of classes and practices.

“We’ve never had a wrestling room before,” Woodward said. “And for basketball, we don’t have to share the gym. Morning practices are over.”

The Bob Burden Gymnasium that the Rangers used to play in is still in use. The new gymnasium has a 94-foot-by-50-foot floor, the same size as a college floor. 

“This new facility really helps our athletics programs as well as our kids during the school day,” Naugle said.

“Now we can have multiple physical education classes through the day, where we used to not be able to.”

The facility will also benefit the community as a whole as memberships are available. The fitness center is open from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. daily while the track is open all day. It is a full-service fitness center with televisions, lockers and showers. Memberships are $30 per month for one person and $40 per month for couples or $300 per year for a single and $400 per year for a couple. Business rates are also available. The contractor for the project, J. Scull Construction, has paid for two months of free membership to all in November and December.

The equipment in the new addition was all paid for with a grant from the Department of Education.

The new court will be formally dedicated to Ginsbach on Jan. 7. The Rangers will host a basketball doubleheader with Custer that night as the boys play their home opener and the girls will be playing their second home game.

“We’re happy to have our neighbors to the south, Custer, coming up for what should be a very special night for the community,” Naugle said. “Hopefully we can make it a really big deal.”