In the fall of 2023, new renovations were announced for War Memorial Stadium, to be completed in 2 phases, beginning after the conclusion of the 2023 season.
Along with these improvements came plans for a new swim and dive center for the UW Cowboy and Cowgirl swim teams. Ground broke for the new building this winter, and the new construction is already sprouting up.
“Construction is proceeding on schedule for a spring of 2026 completion,” said Mike Samp, the associate vice president for campus operations.
“You may have noticed if you’ve been by the site located at 22nd and Willis Street that the north wall of the exterior facility is progressing very quickly and getting tall in a hurry,” Samp said.
There’s a few features that will provide the swim team with amenities that they haven’t had in the past. Instead of practicing at the old Corbett pool near the UW Athletics field house or at Laramie High School, UW will have a space of its own.
“The pool will be a full size olympic pool, 50 x 25 meters, and a separate diving well for the UW swimming and diving teams,” said Samp.
In addition to this new space for the swim team, it will also be open for students to be able to swim, replacing the old Half Acre pool that has now been repurposed.
“The facility has been designed to serve the campus community, including campus recreation,” said Samp. “Corbett pool, with the completion of this project, will likely go off line,” he added.
Details of the shared space haven’t been completely worked out yet, but Samp said that it will be truly an area for the whole community.
“Those logistics have not been set at this point, but there will be scheduling made to accommodate both uses,” he said. “The state of Wyoming has a pretty strong youth swimming program, and I would anticipate that over time, the facility will come to house regional, if not state events for swimmers across the state.”
Now taking up a large part of the tailgating space used for the UW football games, fall afternoons before the Pokes kick off might look a little different this year.
“The furthest north two blocks of the tailgating areas will be off-line for football game days, however we were able to obtain additional parking towards the east, south of the Bison Run apartment complex that will make up some of that,” Samp said.
The project may still be a year out, but Samp wants students to stay up to date with how it’s progressing and when it will be done.
“We just encourage those swimmers amongst the student population to keep abreast of the construction completion and once the facility is open to the public, certainly take advantage of it,” he said. “It was designed to support our student population.”
