New pool is taking shape at Hastings Middle School

Water has been added to the new pool at Hastings Middle School, marking a big step for the $1.9 million summertime project.

At the conclusion of school this spring, construction on the new pool began. The new space will be ready to go in about two weeks for the start of the girls swimming season. Among the main features is the pool’s depth – it is 12 feet deep, which is deep enough to allow for a diving program to exist here. The previous pool was too shallow at 10 feet deep.

There are a number of other changes, too. The pool itself is all new, there are new gutters, boys and girls locker rooms, a new air quality system and a new filtration system.

The filtration system is as friendly on the environment as possible, using ultraviolet light to kill any contaminants. In addition, sterilized and dried sphagnum moss will be used to treat the water – it’s a natural alternative and means that fewer chemicals will be used on a monthly basis.

“I’m excited for the fact that we’re going to have greatly improved air quality and water quality,” high school boys swimming coach Gerry Rupp said. “Kids won’t get sick now when they swim. I’m also excited to have the locker rooms that they put on. The other thing would just be that we get diving back, and we get to introduce that back into Hastings. It’s going to be exciting. I’m looking forward to that.”

Rupp has toured the pool construction a couple times this summer and likes what he is seeing thus far. There’s also more room on the pool deck, thanks in large part to the under-deck lane rope storage. The false ceiling in the pool was also removed, adding about 10 feet of space above the pool, helping the whole area seem much bigger.

Rupp and girls coach Katie McAlpin haven’t wasted any time getting to work on the diving program. They have hired Brianna Arness as the school’s diving coach, and it shouldn’t be much work for her to get the benefit of the doubt from Hastings divers.

Arness holds both school records in diving.

Rupp has heard from a number of Hastings youths who are excited to have diving offered again.

There are two seventh-grade boys, he said, who are strong in gymnastics and who are eager to get on the board.

“That’s really exciting for us,” he said. “To have a kid come in who has tumbling experience and understands positioning in the air is huge. You just can’t teach that.”

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