VERMILLION — The University of South Dakota (USD) has made quite a splash with its new Wellness Center Natatorium. USD celebrated the grand opening of the more than $31 million aquatic facility Tuesday afternoon with a variety of speakers and a ribbon-cutting ceremony that went swimmingly inside the warm and humid natatorium against the backdrop of a beautiful and refreshingly cool spring day outside. The long-awaited natatorium adds an estimated 45,800 square feet, including an Olympic-sized competition swimming pool, to USD’s existing on-campus Wellness Center.
In addition to serving the campus community and the public, the natatorium will be the home of the university’s swimming and diving program. “It’s unbelievable,” Sheila Gestring, USD’s president since 2018 and one of the speakers during the festive event, told the Press & Dakotan. “We’re (NCAA) Division I, and our student-athletes deserve a Division I facility.
Our students ...
study hard all day long, and they deserve an outlet that can provide them with some activity.” The natatorium, which was constructed in part with support — including financially in the amount of $1 million pledged in 2022 — from the city of Vermillion, officially opened its doors to the public on Monday. “We couldn’t do it without the partnership of our community,” Gestring said.
“They’ve been a partner with the original Wellness Center. They were a partner on the National Music Museum, the (Sanford Coyote Spo.
