Wrestlers at Staunton River High School don't want the world. They're just asking for an old meat-canning plant.

Since wrestling practice began in November, the SRHS wrestlers have practiced at the old Bunker Hill Foods plant on Virginia 122.

That ended with a final practice Friday.

Bedford County Schools, along with the county's department of community development, decided not to extend the temporary use permit that allowed the wrestlers to practice at Bunker Hill.

That permit expired Dec. 26, but the wrestlers received an extension until Friday.

Monday they'll begin practice at the gymnasium at Body Camp Elementary School.

"It's like taking away our home," said Sean Hogan, a disappointed wrestler in the seventh grade.

In a letter to parents of SRHS wrestlers, Michael Kelly, the school principal, and Ricky Falls, the school's athletic director, wrote that they'd been notified by Gary McIver, a Bedford County building official, that "in the best interest of public safety and the county's liability, I feel we have no choice but to seek another facility to continue this practice."

"The temporary use permit issued by Bedford County will not be extended unless extensive improvements are made to the facility and outside parking area, and approval of the Virginia 122 entrance is granted by the Virginia Department of Transportation," the pair wrote in the letter.

The upgrades would simply take too much time and money, the letter explains.

Basketball teams practice in the middle and high school gyms after school.

Before the boosters for the Staunton River wrestling team rented the Bunker Hill plant for practices in 2005, the team practiced in the cafeteria.

That's the same place David Carr practiced when he wrestled for the Golden Eagles in the early 1980s. Carr is now the vice president of Staunton River's wrestling boosters.

It's a far from ideal setting, wrestlers will tell you.

Each day before practice, wrestlers had to push the lunch tables out of the way and put down wrestling mats. When practice finished they had to put everything back.

Without a locker room, wrestlers usually changed in the cafeteria, said senior wrestler Nick Roselund. He recalled having his feet on tables while changing, and even lying naked on a cafeteria table, something he admitted to be "nasty."

With a team of about 60 high school and middle school students, wrestlers couldn't begin to sprawl out.

The Bunker Hill plant is so big, on the other hand, wrestlers can put down four mats. Each one has space for 18 wrestlers to practice. And they can leave the mats there every day after practice.

Because the mats don't have to be put up at the end of practice, it's easier to make sure they're cleaned daily, Carr said. Wrestlers who practice on dirty mats can catch infections such as ringworm.

Being the recipient of an infectious skin disease doesn't make a wrestler particularly popular with the ladies, senior wrestler Chris Cunningham explained Friday.

And with enough room for everyone, the wrestlers all get plenty of mat time.

"They're getting really good," said Carr.

Staunton River placed second behind Brookville last winter in the Seminole District tournament. Two Golden Eagles wrestlers -- 145-pounder Roselund and 119-pounder Will Epperly -- won individual district championships. Roselund went on to place seventh in the VHSL Group AA championships in Salem in March. Last week, Staunton River won its nine-team invitational tournament, the River Rumble.

Carr said he's angry the wrestlers have to move during what he believes is the best season the team has ever had. But he said he knew they wouldn't be able to practice at Bunker Hill forever.

Bunker Hill, now owned by Bumble Bee Seafoods, is under contract to be sold, according to Carr.

Still, he'd hoped the county would have let them practice there for the remainder of their season.

The Bedford County School Board voted in the summer to seek bids for the expansion and renovation of Staunton River High School's gym. Bedford County Superintendent Jim Blevins has gone on record saying that if things go well, workers could break ground on the gym as early as this spring.

Ron Tyree doesn't believe it. He worries that his son Jeremy, who's in the ninth grade, won't wrestle in a new gym before his graduation.

At Body Camp Elementary, wrestlers will again have to put the mats down and then pick them back up. That takes about 40 minutes out of practice time, according to Falls.

Wrestler Ricky Perkins said he thinks some kids will quit wrestling because of the time spent taking care of the mats.

"They're going to get bored with it," said the SRMS eighth-grader.

"I think it's just crap," added Will Epperly, a junior.

By the first week of February, when basketball season ends, the wrestlers will be able to practice in the gym at Staunton River Middle School, according to Ryan Edwards, spokesman for Bedford County Schools.

The $38.5 million renovation of Jefferson Forest High School came up more than once at Friday's practice.

"I think we're on the wrong side of the county," said parent John McGee. "I think if Jefferson Forest asked for a fishing pond, they'd get it."

Staff writer Robert Anderson contributed to this report.