The new wave

School to open natatorium doors June 1

West Side Aquatics Center will open to high school students on June 1.

The new natatorium, The West Side Aquatics Center, will finally open on June 1. The building is approximately 59,000 square feet with a warm-up pool and a main pool.

The West Side Aquatics Center is located on the Harmon campus, but will be available for use to Harmon, Main, and Killough campuses.

The building contains three levels. The pools on the first level, concessions and an observation deck on the second, and seating for over 1,130 people on the third level.

“I have been in twice during the construction phase,” head swim coach Tom Gargan said. “It’s big. I feel with the new location it will help our program.”

The warm-up pool is four-feet deep filled with 69,605 gallons of water with four 25-yard lanes. The main pool was designed with state-of-the-art prefabricated pool system, whose gutter system and finish was created to give swimmers maximum speed.

“It looks pretty top of the line because I have been to some of the best pools in America, and that is a pretty good one over there,” sophomore swimmer Ethan McGee said. “I was just at UT two weeks ago for state, and [our pool] is supposed to be just as big, if not bigger than [the University of Texas’] pool and that’s a college.”