by Andy Rogers
Thisweek Newspapers

Members of the Lakeville swimming community would like to read a headline stating, "New pool opens in Lakeville" instead of this one.

Swimmers, coaches and families see the number of swimmers becoming too large for the available pools and water available in Lakeville.

It's become such a strain on the pool that this fall, the varsity girls swimming program might limit its team numbers for the first time.

The team has never cut anyone, but the coaches are used to training three to four athletes per lane. Last year they coached 11 to 12.

"Not every kid is going to be able to participate, and the quality of training has diminished," longtime head coach Rick Ringeisen said.

The divers also had many limitations with one diving board in the district, as well.

Many people assumed a new pool was built right along with Lakeville South High School a few years ago, but the swimming community has tried to get a new pool built in Lakeville for nearly 10 years, with no success.

"We have a real crunch on our hands," Ringeisen said. "Every other program has been updated, but swimming seems to have been left behind."

The curriculum offered to residents in the north part of Lakeville has also been limited because they're not getting a swimming education at Century Middle School, where there was originally going to be a pool.

Fewer kids are learning how to swim, which is hard for Ringeisen to stomach.

"Everyone tries to tell you what you can do without until that kid jumps off a deep part of the pool and he doesn't know how to swim," he said.

Like anything, the main problem is money.

The likely solution to the problem is building a pool at Century Junior High School, which will probably take a levy voted on by Lakeville residents, which isn't a popular option for some.

There was no vote on building a new pool in last fall's elections, and it won't happen this fall, either.

Lakeville school board member Ron Schieck, who had kids on the swim team, believes a pool could be built at Century within the next five years, but there's work to be done.

"It's a struggle to get the levies together," he said. "We're making millions of dollars of adjustments this year."

Various projects for a new pool have been put in motion, but they all failed.

"It's a period of budget restrictions," Ringeisen said.

Lakeville approved a referendum in 1997 for a multi- million dollar bond to improve local schools, which included Century Junior High School.

According to Ringeisen, who was on the building committee at the time, there was space allocated for the pool, but it went elsewhere.

The community came close to getting another pool to use for district curriculum and competitive swimming a few times throughout the years.

There were talks between the Lakeville Life Time Fitness center to use the pool for competitive swimming and curriculum, but they didn't find common ground.

Funding for a new pool was almost put on the recent levy request, voted on in November 2006. The question was removed after much deliberation by the school board.

The levies failed anyway.

There was also a proposed King's Park Athletic Complex that included a pool, which has since been abandoned because of costs.

Coaches and community members have worked together for some creative solutions, such as morning swimming and combined classes, but it's far from ideal and many times impossible, according to Ringeisen.

The McGuire Middle School pool is unable to support competitive swimming because it's too shallow and small. It is able to support diving.

The Kenwood Trail pool is sufficient to hold competitive swimming but not diving.

Both pools serve hundreds of students almost daily.

Lakeville North and South high schools, with hundreds of participants, use the pools for their varsity programs.

The Lakeville Community Education department uses the pool for classes, but students from Century aren't getting swimming in their curriculum and numbers are down.

Swimming is a pretty big deal in Lakeville, with numerous accomplishments throughout the years from state titles.

The plan this fall is to split Lakeville North and South teams this fall, but in reality, it won't be much different.

Pool time is in such high demand that participants will practice at the same time and will be coached by the same people.

The two teams will participate in the same meets, but there will be two different scores at the end.

The boys and girls program has been one of the best in the state for years, winning two state titles, 25 section titles and 16 Lake Conference titles while producing 85 All-Americans and 21 event champions.

There are few people in Lakeville who directly oppose a new pool in Lakeville, but it's not at the top of everyone's priority list.

It will be at least another year before it's put on the ballot for a levy.

Some community members would like to read a story soon about a new pool in Lakeville, and others would like to read about how they personally don't have to pay for it.

"It's the last one being attended to," Schieck said. "Swimming, for whatever reason, is outside the public acceptance of the normal facility that gets embraced.

"Rarely do they have a separate bond for a football field."

For now, the swimming community will work with the school board, spread awareness, support levies and bonds, and help develop creative solutions to pool usage.

"I tell the swimming parents to ask for your kids to be treated like every other kid from the school district. Ask for swimming to be part of the curriculum" Ringeisen said. "We knew we needed another stadium, so we built it. We knew we needed another hockey arena, so we built it."

Andy Rogers is at sportswriter.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.