MVC championships mark introductory high school meet at UI’s pool

IOWA CITY – In 36 years of leading the Dubuque Senior boys' swimming team, you would have thought Rams Coach Dan Duclos had seen and done it all.

But the coach of 15 individual state champions and a dozen top-5 team finishes - including a state title in 2009 - had one more first for his team before he retires next month.

'I've always wanted to coach a swim team and swim a meet at the University of Iowa's new pool,” Duclos said.

Duclos gets his wish Saturday at 12:30 p.m. after convincing Dubuque Senior administrators to host the Mississippi Valley Conference boys' swimming championships at the University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.

While everything from club meets to Big Ten championships and even the NCAA men's championships have been held at the state-of-the-art home of the Iowa Hawkeyes since it opened over five years ago, this will be its first high school competition.

'I thought I was going to get that chance when they built the new pool,” Duclos said. 'We thought for sure the state swim meet was going to end up being there.”

Coaches, swimmers and spectators hope Saturday will begin a trend of additional high school meets at the CRWC pool, where Iowa City West has already agreed to host the MVC girls' championships next fall. The facility has welcomed crowds as large as 1,400 and can accommodate an additional 800 swimmers, coaches and officials on the expansive pool deck.

Whether this ever extends into a much-anticipated acquisition of the boys' and girls' state championship meets - both contractually obligated to remain at the Marshalltown YMCA through 2017 - remains unclear. While the state's swim coaches can make recommendations and help identify facilities, they are not involved in the decision-making process of the IHSAA or IGHSAU.

'It would take a high school entity or a high school willing to bid for it and work with us on the bid for that,” UI CRWC Associate Director of Aquatics Phil Julson said. 'It would be something that they would have to lead, but yeah, we'd be open to that possibility.”

Dubuque Senior has won two of the last three MVC meets. The Rams and Iowa City West - which set or tied conference records in eight of 11 events last season - are expected to top the team standings again.

'I think we're going to have a good meet,” Duclos said. 'They're so excited to be swimming down there, swimming in a fast pool. We don't get to swim in too many fast pools at all.”

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