SEQUIM — The Sequim High School girls swim team can continue practicing at the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center after it closes to the public Friday thanks to anonymous donations from city residents.
The athletic center at 610 N. Fifth Ave., known as SARC, includes the city’s only public swimming pool and is where the swim team practices.
Last week’s closure announcement left the girls swim team in doubt about where it could practice to finish out this year’s season, which ends Nov. 12.
The boys swim and dive team also has practiced at SARC in the past, but it may have to look elsewhere for a home this year when its season begins Nov. 16.
Potential alternatives are being studied at this time by the school administration, Linda Moats, boys swim coach, said Monday.
Frank Pickering, SARC board chairman, and Scott Deschenes, SARC director, had said they would do all they could to keep the pool in operation solely for the girls swim team through Nov. 12 but that it would be contingent upon receiving the cash needed to heat the pool, operate the air handler in the natatorium and turn on one water heater to provide showers after practice.
SARC Foundation donation
The SARC Foundation announced Monday it had raised $7,500 dollars over the past week to allow the girls team to continue practicing.
The foundation is a newly organized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
The money is expected to be delivered to SARC today.
The donation means “we can finish our season out here in Sequim,” Anita Benitez, girls swim coach, said Monday.
Pickering and Deschenes will both volunteer during the practices because SARC staff will no longer be available in November following the closure, they said.
The swim team will provide its own lifeguards during practices, Benitez said.
24 on team
There are 24 girls on the team this year, with 16 slated to compete at the Last Chance Meet held this afternoon in Port Angeles, Benitez said.
Five girls are competing in individual events, with the rest divided up on three relay teams.
If the girls perform well enough, they may become eligible to compete in the state swimming championship, held in King County on Nov. 13-14, Benitez said.
That is why access to the swimming pool through Nov. 12 is so important: so that the girls can prepare for the state competition, she said.
“We are very grateful to the SARC Foundation for making it even possible for us to stay,” she said.
“Hopefully we will have a pool to swim in next year and continue on our program.”
The SARC board voted Oct. 21 to close the facility during a special meeting held at the Sequim Civic Center.
Deschenes said during the meeting that if the facility had continued to operate at current levels into November, it might have gone $20,000 into the red.
YMCA-SARC proposal
SARC will remain closed indefinitely pending the outcome of a proposal by the Olympic Peninsula YMCA to manage the facility.
The outcome of a $36,000 feasibility study to gauge community interest in the proposal is currently being studied, with results expected within the next few weeks.
In mid-November, the YMCA will present the SARC board with the results and potentially a business plan to manage the facility, Kyle Cronk, YMCA executive director, has said.
If an agreement is reached between the YMCA and SARC, the facility could reopen.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
