Swim team members and school leaders broke ground for a new pool at the south Oxnard campus on Sept. 24.
Channel Islands High School's water sports teams will finally have a pool to call home.
School leaders and swim team members broke ground for a new swimming pool on Sept. 24 at the south Oxnard campus.
The 2,380-student high school's swim and water polo teams have for years practiced and hosted home meets and games in Hueneme High School's pool two miles away.
Channel Islands High swim coach Carly Jones, who has been a swim coach for 22 years, said during the ground-breaking ceremony that the pool is overdue for a high school that opened in 1966. "Our campus is so ready for this," Jones said.
Channel Islands High's boy's water polo team made CIF-Southern Section playoffs for the first time in program history in fall 2024, in spite of the fact that most of the varsity squad didn't learn to swim until joining the team.
Oxnard Union High School District Superintendent Tom McCoy said the pool will be just the second in south Oxnard, after the one at Hueneme High. McCoy said that, in addition to sports uses, the district plans to use the facility to provide free community swim lessons.
Construction on the pool is scheduled for completion in December 2026, according to the district, and will cost between $23 million and $25 million. Funding comes from Measure E, a $285 million bond approved by voters in the school district in November 2024.
Isaiah Murtaugh covers Oxnard, Port Hueneme and Camarillo for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at [email protected] or on Signal at 951-966-0914.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Channel Islands High breaks ground on first-ever pool
Category: General Sports
