Purdue News
Purdue News
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Aquatics center to make big splashAn argument could be made that there are no happier people on the West Lafayette Campus these days than those associated with the Boilermaker intercollegiate swimming and diving teams. "I feel like I am walking around with a permanent smile on my face," says Cathy Wright-Eger, who has been women's swimming coach for 14 years. "All of us in the swimming program are the happiest people right now."
The reason for the smiles lies just west of the Recreational Sports Center. There sits the new $17.1 million Boilermaker Aquatics Center, into which Wright-Eger, men's swimming coach Dan Ross and diving coach James Mountjoy will move their teams this fall. The center is scheduled for completion this month, and a grand public opening is planned for Oct. 26 during Homecoming Weekend. Financed entirely with gift funds, the center will be the home of intercollegiate, educational and recreational swimming for the West Lafayette Campus. It features a 50-meter pool that holds 800,000 gallons of water and a separate diving well that holds 500,000 gallons. Two movable bulkheads will allow varied use of the swimming pool simultaneously. In its regular configuration, there will be eight 50-meter swimming lanes. Alternately, lap swimming can take place on one side of a bulkhead while one-on-one coaching and instruction are done in another part of the pool. The diving well features two 1-meter springboards and two 3-meter springboards. It also boasts platforms of 1 meter, 3 meters, 5 meters, 7.5 meters and 10 meters. It is all a dream come true for teams that have been using the outdated Lambert Fieldhouse and Gymnasium pool for swimming practice and meets, and traveling to cities such as Indianapolis and Crawfordsville for diving practice. "We are all so grateful for this new facility," Wright-Eger says. "It's like getting a second wind -- it's like we've been swimming with one arm for all this time and now we can swim with two. We have done the best we could do with our outdated facility -- and we've had good swimmers and good teams. But this is going to make such a difference in all our lives." The new facility will put Purdue among the top three pools in the Big Ten, Wright-Eger says, along with Minnesota and Indiana. Already, large-scale meets are planned for the new center. An NCAA regional diving competition will be held at Purdue during the 2001-02 season, and the Boilermakers will host a coed quad meet with Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois on the first weekend in February 2002. The women's Big Ten championships are scheduled to be held at Purdue during the 2002-03 season and the men's Big Ten championships will be at Purdue in 2004. Calls also are coming in from United States Swimming, the national amateur swimming organization, to use the aquatics center for some of its competitions. Getting young swimmers on campus is key, Wright-Eger says, to developing a great swimming program. "Purdue has always had a great reputation for its academics," she says. "That helped us tremendously in our recruiting. And we have a coaching staff that stresses academics and a good balance among academics, athletics and campus life. Now, we have the facility to go along with what we truly feel is a great program. It's as if we're adding that last piece of the puzzle." For the past two years, Purdue swim coaches have been able to point to plans and construction of the aquatics center and say, "look, here is where you'll get to finish your collegiate career." Now, recruits and young swimmers will be able to see the center and even get wet in it. "I can see our summer camps and all those young swimmers in there with Purdue swim caps and Purdue towels," Wright-Eger says. "That is going to really make a difference for the future of our program. When you get those kids on campus, they get to know you and they get to know Purdue University and Purdue swimming. That is so important - to our program, to our lives and for our campus." For information about Recreational Sports and the aquatics center, see the Web site at www.purdue.edu/RecSports. For more information about Purdue intercollegiate swimming, see the Purdue sports Web site . Story by Julie Rosa for Purdue Perspective PHOTO CAPTION:
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