SCHOOLS PUSH FORWARD AFTER POOL CLOSURE
The closure of OCCC’s pool last year had wide-reaching effects on high school swim programs. None more than Moore, Southmoore and Westmoore.
MOORE — The closure of Oklahoma City Community College’s pool last year had wide-reaching effects on high school swim programs.
None more than Moore, Southmoore and Westmoore.
The three programs lost their practice facility and meet site, a loss that nearly crippled the programs. There are no longer practices outside of the swimmers working with their club teams. More than half of the swimmers just walked away due to the lack of practice time or inability to go elsewhere.
But the remaining swimmers have pushed forward into Friday and Saturday’s Class 6A state swim meet at Jenks’ Aquatic Center.
“It is what it is, and the kids do a great job, and they’re fun to be around,” Moore Schools swim coach Brent Long said. “Basically, we’re trying to keep the program alive until somebody builds a pool.”
Looking for a possible solution, some tried transferring to another school less affected by OCCC’s closing.
Southmoore senior Jacob Barber attempted that, but he was denied eligibility by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association two weeks after joining Norman North. He instead moved back to the SaberCats.
He will swim in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly this weekend, bringing to end what he said is a challenging journey.
“Really, there’s not much that I can do about it, so I’ve got to live with it,” said Barber. “It’s state and my senior year.”
With nowhere to practice consistently, the three schools’ combined total of around 75 swimmers fell to 33.
Long kept the program alive, though, approaching administration looking for a solution. He was moved from head coach at Westmoore to coach of all three teams.
The swimmers are now required to log 8 hours of practice time on their own. They sign a sheet along with their parents and turn it into Long.
“I knew I wasn’t going to get very much practice time in,” Barber said. “There’s hardly a team, we’ve had maybe five practices all year, so it’s not been the ideal situation, especially for my senior year.”
Add in a torn muscle in his shoulder, and things are pretty frustrating.
“He’s been fighting through it,” Long said. “I told him the last few weeks not to swim much. Even though he’s had a shoulder injury he’s really swam his best the last three or four weeks. I don’t know if he’s a gamer or if he just sees the fact he’s a senior and this is it for him in high school.”
Barber said he thought he could swim faster at regionals, but the muscles in his shoulder tightened up at the last minute. He’s seeded fourth in the 50 freestyle and sixth in the 100 butterfly, with chances still solid of winning a medal.
Between Southmoore, Westmoore and Moore, five individuals qualified for the state meet along with eight relay teams. That makes Long’s efforts to preserve the program worth it.
“We’ve only practiced together as a group maybe five or six times this whole year, and we had a good regional,” Long said. “It was worth saving the program so those kids could do something and go to state.”