Photo by Luke Melinkovich
The university’s new Aquatic Center opened to students last week, on September 8th, located at the intersection of 22nd and Willet Drive. This is the 10th construction project the university has completed in the last ten years. Construction began in the Fall of 2024 with a budget of $65.3 million.
Discussions for a new Aquatic Center began in the early 2010s and plans for new construction were temporarily shelved during construction. Funding for the new center came from university-related maintenance funds, university construction reserve accounts, the state general fund, and donors.
Paul Miller, Director of Aquatics Facilities, acknowledged a “hiccup” with plaster that slowed construction by about a month. Aside from the “hiccup,” Miller said that construction of the facility was “really smooth.” Miller stated that the construction process was “100 times better than” previous projects Miller had worked on, built, and designed.
The Aquatic Center features a 50-meter pool, diving well, and spa. The 50-meter pool can be configured to have either 10 lanes or 20 lanes with athletes swimming the 25-yard width of the pool. The diving well has a 3-meter and 5-meter diving platform and 1-meter and 3-meter springboards.
The new Aquatic Center will be an improvement for the Swimming and Diving teams, as the new pool is twice as long and has a higher diving platform than the existing pool at Corbett. Corbett pool is 25 meters with six lanes, 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards, and an indoor diving pit. The Corbett pool has housed the Swimming and Diving teams for over 30 years. Corbett’s last swim meet was last season on September 27th, 2025. Since then, meets have been held in Laramie High School’s pool. The team has continued to practice in Corbett throughout construction until the Aquatic Center’s opening. The first day of practice in the new facility for the Swimming and Diving teams was August 3rd.
The new Aquatic Center is open to campus community members. Open swim hours are Sundays from 3 pm to 5 pm, Monday through Friday from 11 am to 1 pm, and from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm. These hours allow the Swimming and Diving teams to practice at the new facility and allow students, staff, and faculty to use the new Aquatic Center.
The grand opening and alumni weekend for the Aquatic Center will be September 25th and 26th. A notable feature is that the lap pool contains over 1 million gallons of water; the diving well contains 200,000 gallons of water; and the spa contains 1,000 gallons of water.
