By Tim McGovern

scores@swpub.com [1]

There’s a lot the Chaska High School swim teams put up with while training at the Chaska Middle School East pool.

Swimmers are on a collision course in practice, as dozens of swimmers covering various distances and using different stroke techniques swarm the pool’s six-lanes.

There is little room for storage, and the acoustics make it hard to hear someone a few feet away. Meets are crowded, hot affairs with spectators filling every space on the benches. Latecomers must find a spot along the stairway to stand, or watch from the hallway.

But a swimmer can’t swim at all without water.

A malfunction occurred at the Chaska Middle School East pool late Monday or early Tuesday morning, making the pool suddenly unavailable for the team’s scheduled meet Tuesday against Lakeville North and South.

"All the water drained out," Chaska girls swim coach Kristen Nicholson said. "Something blew in the control room. There's maybe a foot of water in it."

A malfunctioning filter appeared to be the culprit, and water was flowing back into the pool by the afternoon. But it will take days to heat it to swimming temperature.

“This couldn't have happened at a worse time for us,” Nicholson said. “This is the time when the girls are putting in long yards in practice.”

The Hawks were able to change their Tuesday meet at the last minute to Lakeville’s home pool at Kenwood Trail Middle School, with diving at McGuire Junior High.

That is the sort of flexibility the Hawks do not have, as the Middle School East pool is the only competitive swimming facility in District 112.

“We are a state-ranked team,” Nicholson said. “Our conference is the most competitive in the state, and we have potential Division I athletes training here. (The middle school pool) has definitely served its purpose, but as we move forward and more people joining the team and wanting to swim, we need facilities in this area.”

Swimmers have been tantalized with the prospect of a new pool for several years. District 112 plans for new buildings such as Pioneer Ridge Freshman Center and Chanhassen High School have included pools in the plans. But the pool fell each time to last-minute budget cuts.

Chanhassen High School Athletic Director ****** Ungar said a new pool at Pioneer Ridge will be included on an upcoming referendum. But that is far from a sure thing.

Splitting up

The draining experience reminded the team of last fall, when the Middle School East pool was refurbished and thus unavailable for meets or practice during much of the season.

Nicholson said the team is grateful for the improvements to the facility, including brighter lighting, a deeper starting end to accommodate Minnesota State high School League rules and new tiling.

“But it’s just a band-aid,” Nicholson said. “What we need is another pool.”

Nicholson said the pool malfunction is a further illustration that the district will have to install another competitive pool – especially as Chanhassen High School opens next fall.

“When the schools split,” Chaska senior swimmer Samantha Getty said. “It will be hard; they will need two pools.”

Splitting the swim teams will involve much more than numbers of swimmers on the squad, Nicholson said.

“For us, it’s just sheer facility space,” she said. “We can’t possibly fit any more kids in this pool.”

Chaska and Chanhassen High Schools have a cooperative agreement for the next two seasons. Beyond that, the schools’ best route is to have a pool for each team to train, Nicholson said.

The Hawks have experienced firsthand what mixing two school’s teams can involve, and they saw it again on Tuesday. Lakeville South and North competes with foes together, but the scoring is often confusing, as each teams results are separated against Chaska’s.

Hawk senior swimmer Sam Getty said that the pool is adequate for meets and practices, but there is much room for improvement.

“It does what it needs to do,” she said.

The Hawks have more than 40 swimmers on the girls team this season. Practices are run in two groups based on training levels. That means six or more swimmers much share a lane while swimming a variety of distances and speeds using several different stroke techniques.

“It’s very difficult for the kids to manage, but it’s also hard for a coach to manage all of them, swimming at the same time,” Nicholson said.

Getty says it also gets crowded when she trains with the Foxjet program in Eden Prairie in the offseason, but staggered training times and eight-lane pools relieves the congestion a bit.

“We have six lanes, and you are always swimming into somebody,” she said. “We just try not to take it out on each other.”

Despite the pool-related hardships, the team is not about their situation get to them.

“As hard as the situation is,” Nicholson said. “the girls are so adaptable and awesome about it.”