Following an incident with Romeo’s swimming pool, Eisenhower opened up their pool to not only Utica’s swim team, but Romeo’s, as well.
Organizing the practice schedule for three schools, instead of two, forced two teams to practice together. Eisenhower’s swimmers practiced right after school, while the Utica and Romeo teams shared time later in the day.

“We practiced in the Eisenhower pool on Monday and Wednesday after our brownout on Saturday, Sept. 27,” Romeo athletic director Gregory Brynaert said. “Now that we have our pool pump back up ,we can continue our practices in our pool.”

Romeo’s temporary power reduction caused the pool’s pump to short circuit. With a meet coming up, the team could not afford to skip practices until the problem was fixed.

Romeo’s team only used the Eisenhower pool for three days. On one of those days, Romeo and Eisenhower competed against each other in a swim meet. On the other two days, the teams just ran through their normal practice routines.

“I thought it was fine,” junior Danielle Poth said. “My swim practice lane only had two Romeo kids in it, so it wasn’t too different.”

When Utica’s pool closed several years ago, the team began sharing Eisenhower’s pool for practice and meets.

“The swim community is tight,” athletic director Jim Vigus said. “We have always come together and shared pools to help each other out.”

The four high schools in the district share resources to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to practice and compete in their respective sporting events.

Eisenhower shares both the pool and Swinehart football stadium with Utica. Since UCS athletes often lend a hand to help each other out, extending relief to the Romeo team was considered a minor inconvenience by the swimmers.