By fall of 2026, swimmers at the University of Wyoming hope to have their home meets on campus rather than a nearby high school in Laramie.
That’s when construction that began in November on a new $65.3 million 50-meter pool facility directly east of the university’s football indoor practice facility on campus at North 22nd Street and East Willett Drive is hoped to be finished by.
University of Wyoming Vice President for Campus Operations Bill Mai said the idea of replacing UW’s outdated swim facility at the John Corbett Building began around 2010, and he arrived on campus in 2013.
“There were a few small appropriations made by the Legislature trying to address some of the shortcomings of the existing Corbett pool,” he said. The Corbett facility “was really kind of limping along, while they tried to figure out what the long-term solution was going to be on this.”
If more than $65 million for a pool facility sounds expensive, it’s actually about middle-of-the-road for UW’s large capital projects over the last decade.
The pool and 10 other projects done or started over the past 10 years at Wyoming’s only public university have a combine price tag of about $885 million, Mai said.
That includes big-ticket items like new residence dormitories to accommodate 920 students now under construction at $295 million, a $103 million science building and a major renovation of War Memorial Stadium ($91 million).
Some of the money for those projects include $417.9 million from the Wyoming general fund, $59 million from university-related state major maintenance funding and $78.6 million from private donations, among other sources, according to information supplied by the university.
Funding for the aquatic facility project includes $15 million from two sources of university-related state major maintenance funds, $30 million from the state general fund, $19.8 million from university construction reserve accounts and $500,000 from donors.
The project has been designed by architects The Arete Design Group of Sheridan and is being built by GE Johnson Co. with offices in Jackson, Wyoming and Colorado. GE Johnson has done several projects at the university.
‘Far Superior’ To Olympic Training Center
Assistant Athletic Director Nick Seeman said University of Wyoming Swim Coach Dave Denniston was unavailable for comment because he was preparing for weekend meets, but Denniston was quoted in a university publication characterizing the facility being built at UW as “far superior to the pool in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center.”
“(It) will allow us to push the upper echelon of what is possible in our sport both on a National Collegiate level as well as internationally,” he said in an article published by the university’s Athletics Department. “I know the varsity swimmers are looking forward to training in that space and sharing the love of the sport with the people of Wyoming through camps and competitions.”
Too Much Spent On ‘Non-Academic Pursuits’
State Rep. Kenneth Chestek, D-Laramie, an emeritus professor of law at the university, said he believes the decade investment into capital projects at the university contains some things that were needed, but questions the recreation buildings and stadium renovations.
He said though he likely supported the capital projects in a budget package that included the aquatics center, he probably “didn’t agree with every line item” in the bill.
“We’re spending too much money on non-academic pursuits,” he said “Some of the money is spent on academic buildings and that’s fine, that’s what the university is supposed to be about, I have no problem with that spending.
“But sometimes I worry about all the other amenities that we’re spending a lot of money on. I’m not sure the priorities are exactly what I would prefer them to be.”
State Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Torrington, said she believes the Legislature has failed in capital budgeting in the past and that the sate has overspent when it comes to the University of Wyoming.
When constituents are struggling in their personal lives to buy groceries and gas, she said that spending close to $1 billion over a decade “is absolutely not the right way to spend.”
“When I served on Appropriations (Committee), and even before, I have been consistently against all of these projects,” she said.
Steinmetz said the university’s College of Agriculture has been “disproportionately affected with budget cuts” because of attrition and other issues, but athletics continues to get attention.
She said the agriculture mission at the university is important because it represents one of the top three industries in the state.
“I believe it is out of balance and out of sync with the citizens of Wyoming in how we have spent on capital construction, especially for War Memorial Stadium and the swimming pool,” she said. “Unfortunately, in the past we haven’t always had the votes to stop these types of things, so with the makeup of the legislature now, they will require a lot more scrutiny than they have in the past.”
University swimmers now practice at the pool in the Corbett Building, which is a 25-meter by 25-yard pool. Meets are held at Laramie High School, a 25-yard pool.
The new 50-meter pool will feature 10 lanes and a separate dive well. Swimmers can also use the 25-yard width of the pool in a 20-lane configuration.
The separate dive well will have 3-meter and 5-meter platforms, and 1-meter and 3-meter springboards allowing the university to host NCAA dive meets, Mai said.
A new $295 million complex on the University of Wyoming campus includes north and south dormatory buildings and a new dining hall. How that will be layed out is shown in this architectural rendering. (University of Wyoming) 
An architectural rendering of the new North Hall residential dormatory on the University of Wyoming campus. (University of Wyoming) 
An architectural rendering of the new South Hall residential dormatory on the University of Wyoming campus. (University of Wyoming) 
The Ivinson parking garage covers two city blocks and cost $27 million. It also included upgrades for the UW Police Department. (Google)
‘Long-Course Events’
Mai said the pool’s length will allow “long-course” swim events, and he expects the facility will be sought after for training purposes because of its high altitude, 7,220 feet.
“With the elevation here, it’s going to put that pool in very high demand for training and for meets,” he said. “It’s a facility that we need here in Laramie, but it’s also a facility that the state is in desperate need of.”
Once complete, the aquatic facility will also serve recreation needs on the campus. A former pool at the university’s Half Acre Recreation & Wellness Center was closed and filled in last year due to structural issues.
When the new center opens, Mai said plans are to drain the pool at Corbett, fill it in, and convert it to a multipurpose athletic area.
Since 2014, Mai said major capital projects at the university include:
• 2014 High Bay Research Facility: $68 million ($22.3 million from state general fund; $27.5 million donors; $15 million abandoned mine funds; $3.2 million UW reserves)
• 2016 High Altitude Performance Center (Athletics): $44 million ($20 million state general fund; $24 million from donors)
• 2017 Engineering Building: $105 million ($97.1 million state general fund; $1.1 million abandoned mine fund; $3.3 million from donors; $3.5 million from Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality)
• 2019 West Campus Satellite Energy Plant: $37 million ($18 million UW major maintenance funding; $14.3 million SI/EERB project allocations; $4.6 million UW reserves)
• 2019 Science Initiative Building: $103 million ($88 million state general fund; $15 million UW fund)
• 2023 Science Initiative Building, shelled space buildout: $12 million ($12million from general fund)
• 2021 Ivinson Parking Garage and UWPD: $27 million ($27 million from UW housing bonds)
• 2022 Residence Halls and Dining Facility: $295 million ($80 million state general fund; $215 UW housing bonds)
• 2022 Law School Renovation and Addition: $38 million ($15 million state general fund; $19.2 million UW major maintenance funding; $3.8 milliondonors; $300,000 law college reserves)
• 2023 West Stands/War Memorial Stadium: $91million ($53.5 millionstate general fund; $19.5 million from donors; $11.7 million UW reserves; $6.8 million UW major maintenance funding)
• 2024 Natatorium/swim facility: $65 million ($30 million state general fund; $19.8 million UW reserves; $15 million UW major maintenance funding; $500,000 from donors)
Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
