Asbestos Keeps Wrestling Team off Mat

December 22, 2006 - The wrestling team at the Old Town High School in Bangor, Maine has been without its mat most of this season, thanks to the presence of asbestos in the room in which the team’s mat was stored all summer long and beyond.

School officials told the Bangor Daily News that during the off-season, the mat was kept in a closet at an adjacent school – the former Herbert Sargent School – a building which has been facing some asbestos-related issues.  According to principal Joe Gallant, they have yet to determine whether or not the mat was affected by the hazardous material, which is often found in ceiling and floor tiles of old schools and other buildings that were constructed prior to the asbestos warnings of the 1970s.

Because of the concerns, school district officials have deemed it unsafe to allow the boys on the high school team to have access to the mat.  As a result, air quality tests are being conducted at the former elementary school, which is now owned by the city of Bangor.

In the meantime, the Coyotes wrestling team has been practicing at other nearby schools, but they fear that testing will not be completed in time for them to be in possession of their mat for their first at-home meet.

Officials say that once air-quality tests are completed, the mat would most likely have to be removed and thoroughly cleaned before it could be used again by the high school team.