The new natatorium, named the West Side Aquatic Center, which had been scheduled to open in November will now open in January of 2014 on the Harmon Campus.

The current facility on Timber Creek is an eight-lane, 25-yard pool that can hold 350 spectators. The West Side Aquatic Center is 70 meters long with a separate teaching pool and can hold 1,300 spectators. The WSAC is available for Main and Harmon and Killough.

Gargan said that having an on-campus facility will help by limiting travel time, giving better access to trainers and easier access for student-athletes to after-school tutoring and events like pep rallies.

Due to the delays in opening the new facility, nothing is scheduled right now.

“Currently, we have not done any programming for the WSAC,” head swim coach Tom Gargan said.

The Timber Creek facility is used by two high school teams, LHS and Marcus, and two club swim teams. The new facility will also host swimming and scuba lessons and will be open to the public.

Gargan said he has mixed feelings about the WSAC. He has been at the Timber Creek facility since it was built, 19 years ago.

“I have some great memories in this building,” Gargan said. “But I’m looking forward to new ones.”

The first pool was built in 1978 where the parking lot for the current natatorium is, which was built in 1993.

Senior swim team co-captain Tyler Tyson is eager to see the new natatorium, saying the current one is a little old.

“It’s just problems that come with every building that’s been around for a while,” Tyson said. “The equipment is starting to not be sufficient and sometimes the pipe pumps just do not work.”

The swim teams had strong finishes in this weekend’s LISD Invitational with girls winning their division and the boys placing third.