A fresh face at Newport Harbor High School

Marisa O’Neil

Sometimes, a little face-lift can make all the difference.

Swimmers at Newport Harbor High School know that firsthand now

that they’re taking dips in the school’s newly refurbished 50-meter

pool. As a school that has produced Olympic water polo players and

won multiple CIF titles in the sport, having a good pool is a must,

Assistant Principal Robert Cunard said.

“We have such a strong tradition of water polo here,” Cunard said.

“Without a good pool, it would be like a school in Texas without a

good football field.”

The new pool has fresh tiles, new decks with better drainage and a

state-of-the-art timing system, making it a potential venue for

national swimming meets. Those replace old, cracked and peeling

surfaces.

“It’s nice to be in there,” senior water polo player Jennifer

Beech said. “There’s not all the cracks in there now. One girl did a

flip turn [in the old pool] and cut her foot on one of the cracks.”

Besides the cracks, a fiberglass liner inside the pool had started

to peel, making things uncomfortable for anyone who brushed up

against it.

“[The new pool] doesn’t have that [fiberglass] that makes you

itch,” 10th-grader and water polo player Kalli Lucas said.

“Oh, that would get all in your skin,” senior Terin Cottam added

with a shiver.

Originally built in 1972, the old pool was suffering from basic

wear and tear problems, Principal Michael Vossen said. But the sharp

cracks and slippery decks started to become a safety problem, forcing

the refurbishment.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District had hoped to use funds

from the school-improvement bond Measure A, passed in 2000. Because

athletic facilities came low on the priority list in the project,

they realized they would have to get the money elsewhere, said Paul

Reed, assistant superintendent of business services for the district.

The city of Newport Beach, which uses the pool for summer

recreation classes and lifeguard training, gave $250,000 toward the

project, City Manager Homer Bludau said.

From the beginning of the refurbishment in August until its

completion in December, the boys’ water polo team had to shuttle to

late practices at other area pools. Most of the time, they practiced

from 6 to 10 p.m. at Corona del Mar High School, after their team

left the water, coach Jason Lynch said.

Their first game in the new pool came against Corona del Mar.

Newport Harbor managed to inaugurate it with a win.

“It’s nice to have it back,” Lynch said. “It’s very nice to be

home.”