New Olympic-sized pool near Kenosha

An Olympic-sized, 50-meter pool has been proposed in the village of Pleasant Prairie, near Kenosha. Details here:

http://www.wisconsinswimming.org/LakeViewRecPool.pdf

and here:

http://www.wisconsinswimming.org/LakeViewRecPoolPlans.pdf

A few thoughts:

-- This is certainly good news for swimming in general, as it provides only the second competitive indoor long-course pool in the state, along with the 30-year-old Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer. It also could provide a venue for major high school meets, including the southeastern D1 and/or D2 sectionals now held in Kenosha and Cudahay.

-- Is it a candidate to host the state high school meet? Probably not; the proposed pool's seating capacity is listed at 1,000, or 500 fewer than the UW Natatorium, viewed by many as undersized for hosting the state swim meets.

-- The center of competitive swimming, at least when it comes to high-quality pools, continues to shift toward southeastern Wisconsin. SE Wisconsin a year from now will have the state's two competition-based Olympic-sized pools, plus the Waukesha South HS pool, one of the best short-course pools in the state. Madison is left with just the short-course Natatorium. Add in the first-rate pool at Carthage College in Kenosha, and SE Wisconsin has an abundace of first-place facilities for meets. The UW pool does have its assets; it's still a very fast pool, and the atmosphere for the state meet -- where the 1,500 fans that can fit in the place are literally sitting on top of each other -- is top-notch. But it still an undersized pool for a top-tier NCAA swim program, and talk at the recently held girls state meets hinted the UW was probably five years away from building a natatorium that is on par with the likes of those at the University of Minnesota.

(Thanks for Jon and Becky Duffey for the tip on the new Pleasant Prairie pool.)