Back in action at Palmer Pool

PALMER -- The pool at Palmer High School was first opened way back in 1983 when Ronald Reagan was president elect and the Baltimore Orioles were World Series Champs. The Orioles are anything but a Series contender now and Reagan is long gone. The Palmer Pool remains open, and has now returned as a host site for competitive swimming once again, following a renovation to meet national standards.

Before this season, the last time the Palmer Pool had hosted a high school meet was the year 2000. Imagine yourself in the speedo of a Palmer High swimmer and you realize that's almost four years with no "home-games." Obviously, the Moose are happy.

"The team is very excited," said Palmer Coach Kalea Myers.

In the year 2000, the National Federal State High School Association (NFHS) instituted a few new rules on the swimming world. All starting blocks in competitive competition had to provide the swimmer with four feet of water to dive into. Unfortunately, Palmer only had three and a half.

Although the Palmer High name is attached to the pool, the school does not actually run the facility. The pools in the valley are run by the borough. The responsibility fell upon them to meet these new standards, and this past year they finally did just that. "The Borough made it possible," said Myers. "The first year the rules came down, the season was underway. Meets got cancelled and moved. The borough allotted money last spring and the pool was closed all summer for the renovations."

The repairs were not necessarily deepening the pool itself. Oh no. There was plenty that had to be shifted and moved around. Myers explained, "They had to move the starting blocks to the deep end of the pool, and get a new diving board that could fold up so it would be out of the way during the swimming. They also had to extend the walls for the bulkheads to make the distance 25 yards across."

The Palmer Pool has one big advantage over the pool in neighboring Wasilla - the distance is measured in yards instead of meters. The fact that all valley swimmers were forced to use the Wasilla pool the last few years didn't help their race times one bit. "Wasilla has 25 meters, not 25 yards in length. Swimming is measured in yards so times are slower and aren't really official over there. In swimming much like track, your seeding at the meets depends on the times you posted at the previous meet, so the Wasilla pool brings a disadvantage," said Myers.

Myers believes that the return of the Palmer Pool means big things for swimming in the valley schools.

"This is a big thing that all valley schools can build from for the future. All the main meets will be held here. Teams like Valdez and Cordova will now be able to cut their travel in half since they can swim here and not have to go all the way to Anchorage. And it really could bring back the power of Palmer swimming. Traditionally we've had a strong program here, but without the pool we had no home meets. Now parents can see their kids swim, the crowds will be larger to cheer us on. It just gives everyone more confidence."

Judging by the excitement of Myers and the athletes themselves this past Saturday at the Senior Sendoff meet, the Palmer Pool once again appears ready to make a big

splash.