On June 28, the Kennedy Shriver Aquatic Center (KSAC) will close for internal and external renovations for both the indoor and outdoor pools. The Montgomery County Department of General Services will lead the project, which will close the pool for at least two years.

Whitman’s swim and dive team (WWSD), in addition to other teams, uses the facility for practices and meets. For the 2024-25 season, the team will have to transfer to the Germantown Indoor Swim Center, located in Boyds, MD. The new facility is a 30-minute drive from Whitman, twice the commute of KSAC.

Freshman Penelope Belknap is concerned about moving to a new pool due to the longer commute.  

“Going straight from school to Germantown, I expect there to be a lot of traffic due to rush hour, which could affect the time we have to practice,” Belknap said. “While Germantown is a nicer pool than KSAC, it’s just really far away which will definitely be annoying.”

This February, the swim team closed out their season by competing in the regional championship at Martin Luther King Jr. Swim Center in Silver Spring — and the dive team competed in regionals at KSAC. Then last week, both swim and dive competed in the state championships at The University of Maryland College Park. At regionals, the boys and girls swim placed fifth overall. At states, boys swim placed sixth and girls seventh.

WWSD captain William Mayo, a senior, believes it will be tough to change the practice schedule to fit with the longer distance, he said.

“Hopefully since the times we can practice depend on the pool, we’ll be able to change our practice times to be more reasonable with a longer drive,” Mayo said. “I think regardless of the pool, the team will still show out like we always do, and the energy at practice won’t change.”