The Mason City School Board has selected Bergland and Cram Architects to design an auxiliary gym and a new swimming pool.
The board voted unanimously on Monday night in favor of the Mason City firm.
The school's current pool, located at John Adams Middle School, was built in 1962.
"It's almost antiquated," said Steve Hugo, long-time swimming coach at Mason City High School.
The pool has leaky walls and a leaky roof, according to Hugo.
He said there's been talk over the years of replacing the pool, but "this is the farthest it has ever gone."
The existing pool has five lanes, but only four can be used during competition because there needs to be an equal number of swimmers from each team in the pool for events.
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Hugo said other pools around the state that the Mohawks compete in have six to 10 lanes, plus plenty of room for spectators.
At the last Mason City home swim meet, there was "less than standing room only," he said.
A new pool would not only benefit the swim team, but also the school's physical education program, said Hugo, who also teaches P.E.
School officials also want to build an auxiliary gym to provide more space for athletic practices and other activities.
The other firms that applied to design the proposed gym and pool were Design Alliance Inc., Waukee; CRW Architecture + Design Group, Rochester, Minnesota; and Atura Architecture, Clear Lake.
School board member Lorrie Lala said only two of those firms were from North Iowa so those were the only ones she considered.
"I liked the fact that during their application process, they (Bergland and Cram) reached out and talked to us just to give us ideas," she said.
Representatives from all four firms spoke to the board during a special session on May 6 and presented some preliminary design proposals.
Before Monday night's vote, Lala said the board was not committing to any particular plan.
"Once we pick an architect, then we'll start to pick a plan," she said. "That's going to start from the ground up."
The board had been discussing the idea of partnering with the Mason City Family YMCA and building the pool at that location.
However, Lala said she got a call Sunday night from a taxpayer who told her the Dubuque School District wanted to do something similar with the local YMCA several years ago, but couldn't do so because state school funding law wouldn't allow it.
She said she did research and found an article on the issue and emailed it to all the Mason City School Board members.
The board does not yet have a timeline nor budget for the project.
School Board President Jodi Draper said the board will need to determine how much the district can afford to spend on the auxiliary gym and pool.
Before the board voted on an architect, student athletes, parents and coaches spoke about the need for an auxiliary gym and a new pool.
Matt Murray, who coaches the North Iowa Splash Swim Club, said people often refer to the current pool as "The Historic John Adams Aquatorium."
"It's small. The walls are sweating. People are hot. The ventilation system can't keep up."
Murray said Splash and the Mohawk boys and girls swim teams can only host dual meets at the current pool because there's not enough room.
A new, bigger pool would allow them to host three or more teams for invitationals, which would bring a lot more people to town who would spend money at restaurants and gas stations, according to Murray.
Grace Tobin, a junior at MCHS who participates in both Mohawk volleyball and girls track, said the district needs an auxiliary gym because the current gyms at the high school and middle school are so booked that some athletes have to practice from 6 to 7:30 a.m., or late in the evening.
This means some athletes don't get enough sleep, according to Tobin.
She also said some girls didn't go out for volleyball this fall because practice times didn't fit into their schedule.
Tobin said multiple sports teams were using the current gym for indoor practice space this spring because they couldn't go outside due to the cold, rainy and even snowy weather.
She said some members of the track team have "lingering leg pain" because they had to run in the hallways due to a lack of available gym space.
Tobin also said she hopes plans for an auxiliary gym will include a larger weight room, noting athletes have fewer opportunities to lift because of the inadequate size of the current facility.
"At the end of the day, it's for our generation, the ones you want to see succeed," she said.