Records Board, New Lockers Highlight Ely Pool Upgrades

WESTFIELD, Mass.  –  Several upgrades have been completed this spring and summer in the Ely Pool area to benefit the Westfield State University women's swimming and diving team.

New lockers and branding signage have been completed for the team-only locker room, and a new records board has been installed above the pool deck to be highly visible from the spectator gallery.

The records board is a gift from Owls' alumni, through both individual gifts and the retirement celebration held for longtime swim and dive coach Dave Laing in the summer of 2022.    Installation was delayed when the original board arrived damaged in shipping and needed to be replaced by the vendor.  The board was installed just after the completion of the 2023-24 season.

The board reads 'Gift from alumni in honor of coach Dave Laing.'

"The record board gives great recognition to the great swimmers that hold those records for the work that they put in to earn them, and for all of our athletes on the team now can see every day what they are going for as goal," said current Owls head coach Matt Nodell. "It's great that the board is named after Dave, who else would you name it after!  He's been a staple of the program and founded the program, and all those swimmers who are up on the board now were coached by him."

In the locker room, new lockers were installed in January with custom Owls' branding graphics on the door and walls.

"I think having the locker room set up is really great, it's updated, branded for them, and a special spot they can make their own" said Nodell, who completed his first season leading the program in  2023-24.

The upgrades to the women's swimming and diving locker room follows on the heels of the build out of the Owls hockey locker room at Amelia Park Arena, and new branding and signage in the women's and men's locker rooms at the Woodward Center, which features team rooms for in-season sports.

"We are always looking for opportunities to invest in our athletics programs and facilities for the benefits of our student athletes," said Westfield State director of athletics Richard Lenfest, Jr. "In this case, gifts from alumni helped us to finally get a records board added at the Ely Pool, and we were able to do renovations in the pool locker room. Women's swimming and diving was added as a varsity sport in the early 80's and the building pre-dates the program so it was definitely due to be upgraded."

The starting blocks in the Ely Pool were upgraded in 2021.