Lancaster aquatic center

Kentucky's Lancaster Aquatic Center

The true incentives of the LAC may be hidden by all the exercise but the details of the space of the LAC imply much more. Not only is the Lancaster Aquatic Center great for swimming but it also is a place of fitness, a stage for glory, and a structured environment that teaches competition and success.

Banners of Southeastern Conference teams and the stairwell leading down to the main deck of the pool

At the bottom of the stairs is a glass case with famous athletes or donors that have helped keep the pool running for many years. There is also a picture frame that shows different slides every couple of seconds of Kentucky’s swim team. These slides include the team’s individual pictures—stern faced young men and women ready to start the season. Other slides include pictures of the team’s intense workouts which indicate the nature of the pool’s atmosphere of hard work, sacrifice, and competition.

There are bleachers running down the entire side of the pool. During swim meets, these bleachers can be overpopulated with parents that have come to see their sons or daughters swim for the University of Kentucky.

Another factor that contributes to the success in the pool is the coaching staff and experience they have to offer. Gary Conelly has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky’s swimming team for the past twenty-seven years. He is one of the smartest people when it comes to swimming and is a very well educated person graduating from Kentucky in 1973 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He prepares the in-depth practices and watches each and every swimmer, critiquing their strokes. He uses an underwater camera so the swimmers can not only hear but also see what they are doing wrong. This gives us a visual aid so we can comprehend his complex explanations. The reason why he is trusted and makes us better is because of his personal history with swimming. He went to the Olympics when he was a swimmer for Kentucky. He knows what it takes to be an Olympic swimmer and can sense in every other swimmer he coaches what it takes to be a swimmer of his caliber. On average, Coach Conelly spends around fifty to sixty hours in the Lancaster Aquatic Center so he knows every nook and cranny of the pool.

New Additions

circulating fans above the pool to enhance breathing

• The University of Kentucky competes in the South Eastern Conference, the best swimming conference in the United States, so if you compete with the best you will eventually become the best

• UK’s academics are top of the line so coming here be give you a good base for your future. Also the swim team has one of the highest overall GPAs in the whole athletic department.

Scoreboard

Created by John Eubanks

Other atributes that make UK and the swim team elite