Baggot: New pool inspires and further motivates Badgers’ swimmers & divers
March 18, 2021 | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving, Andy Baggot
Soderholm Family Aquatic Center inside The Nick a bright new home in challenging year
 |
|
|
BY ANDY BAGGOT
MADISON, Wis. — Not long before it became a dark gray pile of rubble at 2000 Observatory Drive, the University of Wisconsin Natatorium provided Taz Abramowicz with a keepsake memory.
It came last January during the final UW swimming and diving meet held at the 59-year-old facility. A standout diver, a transfer from Nevada-Las Vegas, Abramowicz not only took part in the last home meet staged there by the Badgers, he was one of its standouts.
Competing against Northwestern in a Big Ten Conference dual meet, Abramowicz won the 1-meter event with a career-best score and prevailed in the 3-meter dive. It was also Senior Day, so he got to share in a quality send-off for his departing teammates.
"There are definitely a lot of memories there," Abramowicz said, "some good and some bad."
Abramowicz wasn't supposed to have any, though. One of the main reasons the junior from Calgary, Alberta, transferred to UW was the allure of spending the rest of his college career competing in a new facility.
The Nicholas Recreation Center was supposed to open in January of 2020, but multiple weather-related issues in 2018 (flooding) and 2019 (extreme cold) resulted in a delay that extended to October of 2020.
"I was told it was going to be done right when I got there and I'd never have to train or compete at the (Natatorium)," Abramowicz said.
Instead, Abramowicz spent a season training and competing at The Nat, built in 1961. That meant weekly round-trips every Wednesday to suburban Milwaukee where he and his fellow UW dive specialists utilized the 10-meter platform at the Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer. The tallest tower at The Nat was 5 meters.
"Very frustrating," said Abramowicz, whose decision to transfer "would have been a much tougher choice" had The Nick not been part of the equation.
The transition to the Soderholm Family Aquatic Center inside The Nick was welcomed, especially against the backdrop of the pandemic. Had the Badgers been forced to spend another competition season at The Nat, Yuri Suguiyama, the UW coach since 2018, said his "mood would have been a lot different."
Instead of operating in a dark, windowless set-up with one eight-lane 25-yard pool and a limited diving well — which was the case at the old Natatorium — the Badgers have a 50-yard pool that can be split in half, a full diving tower and seating for 1,200 spectators surrounded by massive windows.
"I like how it looks when you look at it from all the angles," Abramowicz said. "Just a really pleasant view, which is awesome."
Suguiyama likes the scenery, too.
"It's been an awesome thing," he said of the new facility. "A real shot in the arm."
The UW men broke in their new digs with three dual-meet victories and finished fifth at the Big Ten Championships, while the women won three of four dual meets before also placing fifth in the Big Ten meet. Swimmer Phoebe Bacon was named Freshman of the Year after wins in the 100 and 200 backstroke. Wesley Jekel took third place in the 200 IM while Josh Dannhauser placed third in the 500 free.
Abramowicz, meanwhile, finished fourth in the 10-meter platform event and qualified for NCAAs.
Suguiyama said Bacon, a U.S. National Team member from Bethesda, Maryland, has emerged not only as an elite performer, but as "a leader and voice on the team."
Bacon said she was "really happy" with her Big Ten meet debut because even though she didn't set any personal records, "they were all strong races and also just extremely enjoyable."
Bacon never swam in The Nat, but she got a tour during her campus recruiting visit. Her first impression?
"A little scary," she said.
Being a member of the first UW class to compete at The Nick was a big deal to Bacon.
"If they just had The Nat, it would definitely have been hard for me to get the long-course training that I really want and love," she said, adding that the new facility was a "major factor."
How does a place like the Soderholm Family Aquatic Center inside The Nick make you better?
"I feel a lot more confident going into a competition at The Nick than at The Nat," Abramowicz said. "For me, training in a pool like this, it makes me feel a little bit more motivated."
Bacon took a step further, saying that training in a new, modern environment is a boost to the mindset for everyone on the team.
"When you walk into The Nick, it's this wide-open, extremely bright facility and up on one wall you have all these names of Olympians and on another wall you have all our NCAA championship swimmers," she said. "These swimmers may not have trained here at The Nick, but they've trained through this program and gotten this program to where it is today. They basically got this new pool for me to train in and the classes following me to come in and train. It allows your brain to flip that switch that says this program is being built up and really becoming something."
Bacon said her favorite aspect of The Nick is the display of 13 Olympians, including 2004 gold medalist Carly Piper.
"That's a list we see every day," she said. "That's not only a list I want to be on, but there are plenty of other swimmers in our pool that want to be there. I want to see my name there every day."
Bacon trains side-by-side with Beata Nelson, who won three NCAA individual titles for the Badgers and was named Swimmer of the Meet in 2019.
"Training with her has really taught me a lot," Bacon said. "I want to catch up to where she's at. I want to reach that level."
Players Mentioned
