By Chloe Oliver
Junior Owen McCormick gets his kickboard out, ready to continue his warmup. He jumps into lane one, but then hears a loud ‘rumbling’ noise. The lights start flickering.
Teammates and coaches on the pool deck scream. The swimmers quickly catch on that something is wrong.
With the little time there is, McCormick tries to look behind him to see what is happening. Until …
CRASH!
Something hits his shoulder and scrapes his back.
He then realizes the cause of the chaos: the lights are no longer on the ceiling. They are in the pool.
“I’d say that was probably one of the scariest moments I’ve been through in the past few years,” McCormick said. “… It really just instilled panic in everybody else, and people were screaming. It was just complete chaos to be honest.”
On Friday, Jan. 16, a row of the overhead ceiling lights in the pool area fell into the water. This hindered the regular practice routine for the swim and dive team, as they are now practicing at different places for the remainder of their season. This event has also closed the pool down for the remainder of the school year.
After meeting with Jen Detweiler, the athletic trainer, McCormick’s injuries were minor, and he went home with his shoulder wrapped in ice.
Southside Middle School is helping the swimmers out, allowing them to practice there from 7:45 to 9:30 p.m. Yorktown is helping the divers get their practice in, as well as the middle school. Ball State is also allowing the divers to practice in their natatorium.
“Since we’re not at our home pool, it’s a lot different for sure,” McCormick said. “I think morale is definitely a little bit lower than it usually would be.”
On days when the swimmers and divers don’t have a place to practice as a team, they are encouraged to go to the Muncie Family YMCA and pay to get in to practice.
“I think it’s making us stronger as a team, having to find ways to come together, get practices in, borrowing pools from other people,” head coach Mrs. Alison Jackson said.
This isn’t the swim team’s first rodeo having to hold practices at other places, though. During last year’s season, the chlorinator malfunctioned. Having too much chlorine in the pool can be dangerous. In the 2023-24 season, there was fiberglass in the pool.
Junior Emma Case got hit on the head when the lights fell. She was just finishing a part of her warmup, and like many other swimmers, was getting ready to use her kickboard and start her 200 kick. As she was pushing off the wall …
“Then I could just see the lights start to fall,” Case said. “I was able to cover most of my head, but it did hit some of my head. God kept us pretty much all safe. There were only bumps and bruises.”
The athletic trainer checked Case for a concussion and cleared her to swim.
When the lights fell, Case said she was not scared in the moment. She was more focused on getting her teammates out of the pool and making sure everyone was safe.
“I heard a creaking sound and looked up and this piece of lighting pulled away from the ceiling, and I screamed,” coach Jackson said. “ I thought I yelled ‘move,’ but my assistant coach said I just screamed bloody murder.”
Some teammates stayed afterward to talk and process what had just happened. Most of the team members were just in utter shock. Some were in tears, others were speechless.
The team came together in their faith. They thanked God for keeping them safe.
“I feel like now everyone is like, ‘Well, we’ve gotten through this. Nothing can be worse than the lights falling down on us,’” Case said.
The incident could have been a lot worse. Nobody knew if the lights were still connected to electrical power, so they didn’t know if anyone could have gotten shocked.
Coach Jackson knows that her swimmers have more important goals than worrying about what could have happened, though.
The swimmers may have been on edge for a day or two after the event, but that didn’t stop the girl’s team from winning sectionals for the fourth consecutive year on Saturday, Feb. 7. The boy’s team has yet to compete in sectionals. Pre-lims are Feb. 19, and the finals are Feb. 21.
In March, a remodel for the pool area already was planned. This would have closed the pool from then through August. With the unexpected situation of the lights falling, the remodel was started immediately to prevent more lights from falling.
Remodel plans call for them to take down the drop ceiling, put new lighting in, replace some of the ceiling, and add a dehumidifier.
The dehumidifier will allow for recycling of the water, instead of just losing it. They have to drain the pool because of the glass that shattered when the lights crashed into the water. The remodel will also redo the balcony seating, making it easier for parents to see.
The project will make sure that engineers and professionals make all the systems up to date. Since the remodel got a kick-start, it should hopefully be done by summer of 2026, if all things go according to plan.
Athletic director Mrs. Lynde Bratton is confident in the future of the swim team. She said that if they can make it through the adversity of this season, they can do anything.
Both she and coach Jackson believe that better things lie ahead for the team.
“(The pool) is going to be fixed, and just like our team, will come back better than ever,” Jackson said.
