The University of South Dakota has announced that construction has begun on the expansion of the campus wellness center, which will feature a new 50-meter pool.Â
The competition pool is just one part of the $31.25 million project that is set to add over 45,000 square feet of additional aquatics spaces to the building. Other additions include a leisure pool, aquatic obstacle course, a hot tub, steam room, locker rooms, and new aquatics offices.Â
- Read about the entire project here.Â
The 50m competition pool will include two movable bulkheads and seating for 400 people. The pool will serve as the home of South Dakota’s swimming & diving program, but is also intended for community and campus use.Â
“The new competition pool will allow the team to train at the same time on a more consistent basis, which will help foster a stronger team culture,” said head swimming and diving coach Jason Mahowald. “The addition is an overall investment in their team, and it will make the athletes’ overall experience at USD better.”
South Dakota currently has a handful of 50m pools, however, the majority of them are outdoor facilities. In 2022, South Dakota Swimming hosted their long course championships at the Midco Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls, which is one of the only indoor facilities currently available for long course meets.
South Dakota Swimming is one of the smallest LSCs in USA Swimming with only 1,170 members as of 2021, meaning even with a smaller spectator area, it could serve as a site for future LSC championships meets. This means that in addition to the typical recruiting benefits that come from building a new facility, USD may also see a bump in in-state recruiting as swimmers come to campus more for club meets.Â
The facility is projected to be completed by the fall of 2024.
Go Yotes!!!
No way! The last 20 years have been great, for Sd, in terms of building competition pools.
It’ll be a great recruiting tool
Is love to see the numbers for each LSC. I know several are well under 1000
I was at a Masters meet at USD where someone at the university told me about this new pool.
If you have the money by all means build a 50 meter pool.
The current pool is 6 lanes, in meters, and the seating is not great.
Good to see colleges invest in their facilities.
So sad that TCU still has a 6 lane 25 yard pool and a 5M at the highest dive tower. Not to mention it has literally been unable to swim for the past almost entire school year. Athletes have had to swim at a local Catholic high school and divers have had to drive to Dallas (45 minutes to an hour away) at SMU for their training. The school has so much money, there is no excuse for it. When you see schools like USD building facilities like this, really makes you wonder why TCU even tries to support a swim program.
But the diving pool is 22 feet deep, which counts for something, right? /s
SCUBA class. 😉
Waiting for Nebraska to do this so they won’t be the bottom of the barrel in the Big 10.
Nebraska has a team?
They have a women’s team. Bill Byrne, the father of the current Alabama AD, cut the men’s team.
And why can’t Michigan st do this?
Do what?
Having grown up in Sioux City Iowa this will be a great addition for swimming in the Midwest. Congrats USD!
Should have built it 49 meters so it’s faster
That’s the outdoor pool in Rapid 😉