Work on New Pool Nearing Completion

When a lack of funds was slowing progress on a swimming pool at Oxnard High School, the community took action.

Now the community will soon have an Olympic-size pool to call its own.

“It is sanctioned, so if [a competitive swimmer] breaks a record, it qualifies,” said Lynn Mikelatos, chairwoman of the Oxnard Aquatic Foundation.

The organization was formed April 1, 1995, to help raise funds for the pool project.

According to Assistant Supt. Rocky Ortega of the Oxnard Union High School District, the project will be completed within a week or two.

The total cost of the pool, which measures 50 meters by 25 yards, is about $2.1 million.

“For years, I’ve been pushing to get a true Olympic-sized pool in the area,” said Jim McConica, a world-class swimmer and Ventura resident. Also, he noted, “there’s a shallow end [of the pool] where people can learn to swim, for therapeutic reasons and other community needs.”

The pool also contains three diving boards and enough room for three water polo matches to take place at the same time.