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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels September 30, 2004 Left high and dry By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings At the beginning of the season, the Grizz water polo players realized their 2004 state playoff campaign would require a bit more heart this time around. The Southern Oregon University pool will not be operational until the beginning of November, because the sanitation system must be replaced. The closure has displaced hundreds of users. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings The Southern Oregon University pool, considered the home venue for Ashland High water polo and swim teams, as well as the Phoenix High swimmers, was closed for annual repairs in early August. However, unlike years past, the school failed to reopen the pool in September. The pool remains stagnant because of problems with the chlorine system and university officials estimate the reopen date at November 1, after the end of the prep water polo season. "They had three different times for opening it over the summer," AHS water polo club president and parent Larry Berteau said. "It's wiped out the whole water polo season for Ashland High and Medford." The Grizz teams continue to practice and compete, but have been relocated to Jackson Wellsprings and must now play all of their matches on the road. The nearest pool with the correct dimensions for water polo play is in Cottage Grove, approximately 2 1/2 hours north of Ashland. The SOU pool was the only facility between Redding, Calif., and Cottage Grove suited for water polo. "I have a son who's a senior and he's not going to have a home game this year," parent Bob Del Carlo said about his son, Andrew, a starter for the Grizzlies. "I just think it's very shortsighted by the university." Chlorine problems Normally, the university maintenance staff uses a chlorine gas to sanitize the swimming pool, a substance no longer available to SOU. "We were notified earlier in the summer by our supplier of chlorine gas that those supplies would be curtailed," SOU Vice President of Administration and Finance Ron Bolstad said. "We would have to move to a different way to feed chlorine into the water." The university received a temporary reprieve when the Jackson County Health Department gave the go-ahead for temporary hand-fed chemicals into the pool. Typically, this practice is outlawed in public facilities and, as fall approached, the hand application of chlorine was ended and the pool closed indefinitely while the university devised a solution. "What's sort of distressing to me is they could have closed the pool after the swim season and done this maintenance," Del Carlo said. SOU Athletic Director Phil Pifer, who oversees pool operations, did not comment on the situation. Uncomfortable shift The historically tough Ashland High teams spent the opening weeks of practice paddling around the too-shallow Daniel Meyer Pool behind Walker Elementary School. The Meyer pool, an outdoor facility run by the City of Ashland, provided much-needed conditioning space at the end of the summer and into September, but eventually the weather reached chilly fall temperatures and the pool was closed to the public. Left without a practice facility, much less a venue to host matches, the Grizzlies improvised. The staff at Jackson Wellsprings traded schedules around enough to allocate the Ashland teams two hours of practice each afternoon, even though the pool is not sized for water polo. "They've been true heroes," Berteau said. "They've literally saved the season. Without Jackson Wellsprings we would have had to contemplate scratching the season." But the Ashland teams have pushed on and, despite the hardship, each squad hopes to emulate last year's performances. The boys' team brought home the third-place trophy from the state meet, after winning the Southern League title. The girls' finished fourth at the conference tournament. Early in the season, water polo players on both teams felt drawn to the challenge of not having a home venue, expressing a desire to do whatever it would take to pull the players together and win. The teams remain optimistic, but the situation has not been easy for them. "It's not the greatest pool on earth, but it works out fine," Grizz senior Alex Grimaldi said. Their biggest problem, he said, is not being able to spend even one weekend playing at home. "We miss the SOU pool." Two weeks ago, Ashland trekked to Eugene to play five matches in three days in Amazon pool, an outdoor facility in Eugene. The Grizz girls and boys each went 4-1, at times playing in the rain. Ashland will make the same trip later in October, a weekend of matches that would normally be played at the SOU pool. "It sucks because we have to travel to Eugene to play games," Grizz sophomore Cameron Mitzel said. Hope on the horizon Although university officials admit the SOU pool will not be reopened in time to salvage the Ashland water polo home schedule, the administration believes the pool will be ready in plenty of time for the prep swim season, which begins in mid-November. "Everything is on schedule," SOU Physical Plant Director Craig Morris said, explaining the retrofit of the chlorine system will begin within days. "It will be a permanent type of sanitation system, but it's not a system we want for our pool long-term." The new system will use liquid chlorine, although the university intends on upgrading the sanitation process in two to three years, after discussion with pool users and extensive planning. "We didn't want the pool to be closed for an inordinate amount of time," Morris said. The temporary pool fix will cost between $13,000 and $15,000, moneys provided by the university's capital repair fund. Although the initial reopen date was October 15, the administration now says the pool will be available for public use as of November 1. "We'd rather allow a little bit of time to ensure the new system is installed properly," Bolstad said. "We certainly regret the inconvenience, not only to our students and staff, but to the high school teams and community groups." In addition to the Ashland High water polo teams, four other groups were displaced by the closure. The Rogue Valley Masters swim program, SOU Extended Campus Programs and Raider athletic teams all rely on the facility for lap swim, water aerobics and rehabilitation. Superior Aquatics, a youth swim club based in Medford, hosts the Shakespeare Invitational swim meet at the pool each October. 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