Tiger basketball, wrestling to return to Mark Branch Fieldhouse

By Everett Brazil, III

The Newkirk Herald Journal

NEWKIRK — The Newkirk Tiger and Lady Tiger basketball and wrestling seasons are only a few weeks away, and they will be hitting the court in Mark Branch Fieldhouse for the start of the season until the new gym has been completed.

“The new gym will be a great facility, but Newkirk Public Schools (NPS) is still working through multiple items before it will be open for events,” said NPS Superintendent Scott Kempenich. “We have resurfaced the Mark Branch gym floor so that it will be a playing surface that is suitable for our home basketball games.”

The Newkirk community is invited to a public update, and question and answer session at the gym, Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. in the gym. Participants are asked to enter the southeast door, and sit on the east side of the gym.

NPS administration is working to ensure that the new gym will be open in a timely manner for both basketball and wrestling activities and that it will be a facility NPS will be proud of.

“I know that this is an unexpected inconvenience, but we are spending additional time time to ensure that the new gym, which was paid for by taxpayers’ money, is the quality expected,” Kempenich said.