Manlius, New York (NCC News) – The Fayetteville-Manlius girls swimming and diving team has had some interesting facilities this season.
Senior swimmer Lilly Fowler explained what the pool they have been practicing in looks like, “It’s literally pea green. It looks like a lake.”
The FM girls swimming and diving team had always practiced at Cazenovia College, but the college shut down this past June. Now, they’ve been bouncing from place to place without a pool to call home.
“We’re kinda like vagabonds,” Head Coach Tim Gallivan said. “We’ve been traveling every which way. We’ve been at calvary for the majority of the season which is outdoor and not great. Kinda looks like a swamp at some point in the season but we did the best we could about that.”
Despite having an undefeated record the girls are craving something else in their senior season.
“Not having a student section at the game,” Lilly said. “Our senior night tomorrow is at Baldwinsville no one wants to drive there.”
There’s actually a pool shortage, which leaves teams like F-M, C-N-S, and C-B-A who don’t have pools, scrambling to find one to practice in.
“We don’t know when practice is everyday because we don’t know if we have pool time or not,” Lilly explained.
One might think with all the success that the team has had that a pool might be in their future but Coach Gallivan says that’s not the case.
“I think that in conversations we’ve had, you’ve had success in spite of not having a pool so why do you need it if you’re still having success?” Gallivan said.
Over the past ten years the FM Girl’s Swimming and Diving team has a record of 96-8. While they might not have a home pool this year… or next… they will at least be swimming next to one another.