DEL MAR — The San Dieguito Union High School District has broken ground on a highly-anticipated aquatic center at Torrey Pines High School, providing the first campus pool in the district’s 88-year history.
District officials gathered at the project site east of the Torrey Pines stadium on Sept. 5 for the official groundbreaking, with a pool sounding especially appealing as they took the first shovels of dirt under the blazing sun.
Once completed in the spring, the 37-meter pool, locker room, and other facilities will be a game changer for San Dieguito’s swim, dive and water polo teams. Currently, they have to practice at other locations, often early in the morning, late at night and at great distances.
“Without a doubt, this aquatic center will have a lasting impact on the high school experience of generations of students,” said Superintendent Anne Staffieri.
Along with the pool, the aquatic center will include sports lighting, a scoreboard and timing mechanisms, a 5,200-square-foot building containing locker rooms, team rooms, offices, storage and a first aid station, and a 2,000-square-foot building for bathrooms, concessions, equipment and pump rooms.
The San Dieguito Board of Trustees approved the project earlier this summer, approving a final project price of $19.3 million. The pool is the third and final phase of the $40 million Torrey Pines Athletic Facilities Improvement Project, which also included renovations to the two athletic fields and tennis courts, repairs to amenities at the school’s softball fields, and modernizations to the locker rooms.
“As a board, we are united not only in our desire to provide a high-quality education for each and every student, but to provide opportunities that optimize their individual potential. This pool represents such an opportunity for our students,” said Board President Rimga Viskanta.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, members of the Board of Trustees, the Torrey Pines principal, and members of the parent pool committee thanked the district for their work on this process.
The committee, made up of a small group of aquatics parents, expects to launch a fundraising campaign soon to fund additional pool expenses.
“This aquatics facility will enable more access for our students to aquatic programs and sports, water safety training, physical education, CTE programming as well as fitness and aquatic club programs for the community at large,” said pool committee chair Suzanne von Thaden.
