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By Mercedes Deleon / Staff Writer
Swimming in construction (Ryan Lynch / Asst. Photo Editor)
By Mercedes Deleon / Staff Writer
The construction of Riverside City College’s new Aquatic Center is well underway.
The new center will feature a 65 meter pool that can be sectioned off to run several activities at the same time.
It will be 16 feet deep at the deepest end and eight feet deep on the shallow end.
It will include ten, seven, five and one meter diving boards.
Seating will also be available for up to 800 people.
Initially the center was scheduled to be a year long project.
“We began this project on October 12 2009 and we’re scheduled to finish in December,” said Bryant Ismerio, Project Engineer. “Everything has been running so smoothly that our date of completion will fall in November.”
This early completion comes even with minor setbacks on the construction site.
“Well it did rain a few times, but that was only a minor issue,” Ismerio said. “Aside from the short rains, everything has been going great and ahead of schedule.”
The new pool will give RCC aquatic teams a chance to host home games, instead of going to Cal Baptist.
“It will provide a great sense of pride for the students and the community at large,” said RCC Athletic Director Barry Meier. “It is something we’ve never had and it will be a great luxury for our swim teams to compete at home. The pool will be accessible to students first but aside from that our doors will be open to everyone.”
A problem which has risen from the construction of the Aquatic Center is the elimination of yet another smaller student parking lot.
“The new pool is good for our swim teams but what about our parking situation that students face every single day,” said RCC student Maria Villela. “Students need better parking to attend class more than they need a pool.”
According to Meier, the construction of the center hardly interferes with RCC’s parking situation.
“Parking has never been greater here on campus,” he said. “There is never a good time to improve a college because it will always interfere at any point. We just hope that students remain patient because it will be well worth it once it is finished.”
The purpose of the center is to host competitions and serve as a training facility for aquatic teams.
“Our other pool is not adequate enough to hold competitions so our teams have to drive as far as Orange County in order to compete,” said Meier. “We are also saving a lot of money by doing it now because prices are down due to the economy.”
There have been major contributors to the funding of the new project.
“It is a partnership between the city, the county and the school,” he said. “It will be a state of the art facility that will be as nice as any other facility in Southern California.”
