Jury’s in: Swimmers like Iowa facility

IOWA CITY - The NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships wrapped up last night to rave reviews from competing swimmers at the University of Iowa's Recreation and Wellness Center.

The facility, which opened in 2010, allowed Iowa to host the event for the first time.

'It's a great pool, said Gunnar Bentz, a freshmen individual medley specialist for Georgia. 'Everyone that has been here, from every team, has said they love it. It's a really modern, new facility. Everyone loves it.

'It's a really fast pool and you can see that as there have been some great times during this meet.”

Iowa Coach Marc Long agreed, saying 'this might be the fastest swim meet in the world.”

The 'great times” included an NCAA meet record and U.S. Open record of 3:01.23 in the 400-yard medley relay by Texas with Kip Darmody, Will Licon, Joseph Schooling and Jack Conger of Texas. A U.S. Open record is the fastest performance on United States soil.

David Nolan of Stanford set another NCAA and U.S. Open record of 1:39:38 in the 200-yard individual medley.

Some mention the lack of markings on the pool floor for explaining the fast times. Others reference the pool's design.

'Saying it's fast is just kind of a swimmers' term,” Bentz said. 'Pools just feel fast sometimes. Just by the way it's built, like the blocks and the walls, you can just tell it's a fast pool.”

'The way the gutters are made make the waves spill over pretty nicely and there's a good depth to the pool, which helps,” added Tripp Cooper, a Texas senior who placed third in the 100 butterfly in 45.06 seconds.

The fast times, however, weren't the only attraction. With a compact downtown area and hotels just blocks away from the swimming facility, swimmers said they liked the experience.

'Iowa City is an ideal place to hold the NCAA championships,” said Zach Stephens, a senior breaststroker from Notre Dame. 'With the proximity of the hotels and restaurants, to the awesome competition facility, it makes it really fun and makes it an all-around great experience.”

All of that praise for this event bodes well for the University of Iowa and Iowa City, who hope to host more major championships in the swimming facility, including future NCAA meets.