Thunderstorms, some heavy during the morning hours, then skies turning partly cloudy during the afternoon. High around 85F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..
A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
Updated: September 22, 2023 @ 4:47 am
What is a swim team without a pool? Unlike some sports, in which athletes could make do with an empty lot or a patch of grass (a bare backboard, a limp net), swimmers really do need a proper facility to practice their sport.
Manhattan High’s swim team this year had to scramble to find a home after K-State’s Ahearn Natatorium closed because of the coronavirus. With few options in town, the team was in danger of not being able to compete this season.
In the end, administrators struck a deal with the Wamego Aquatic Center. Coach Alex Brown said this week the team was happy with that and ready to get started. But the situation is certainly not ideal. The team is driving almost half an hour to get to practice every day, which really means double that time each day just for travel.
And there’s a bigger issue at hand: the pandemic is bound to end sometime, but the pool dilemma is not going away.
K-State has said it will begin plans to close the aging natatorium permanently within three years. It hasn’t decided whether it will open during the spring semester. Officials said the main problem with the 1975 structure is ventilation issues.
“A 2018 engineering study identified $4 million in needed repairs,” said Jeff Morris, K-State vice president for communications and marketing, in August. “While the fees assessed to the various users of the facility are enough to cover the direct costs for its use, the university also must spend an additional $150,000-$200,000 a year on utilities, supplies and maintenance and repairs. It’s just no longer fiscally viable or safe for the university to continue its use.”
It’s not just the swim team that needs a pool. Lots of people in the community want to swim for exercise, swim lessons and fun.
We’ve written before in this space about the need for more community recreation faciliities, including indoor swimming pools. For a city of its size, Manhattan comes up pretty short in that area. The city government has made some progress with three small community rec centers under construction right now. But none of them have indoor pools.
There have been proposals in the past that we should put a roof over the outdoor City Park Pool, but those all fizzed for various reasons.
Well in a way, the solution seems obvious: Manhattan needs a pool, K-State has a pool (well really three pools in one facility). What if the city — and perhaps the school district — found a way to partner with K-State to renovate Ahearn Natatorium and keep it open?
No doubt that would be a complicated undertaking, since it would involve multiple governmental entities. The natatorium is on university property, but the city and school district would have to cooperate with K-State to fund and operate it.
Still, it seems worthy of consideration. Perhaps local officials can get together to see if the idea holds water.
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