By Keith Dunlap on SwimSwam
The wait was worth it for the University of South Dakota swimming program.
After nearly six years of work, the university has unveiled its latest crown jewel, a gleaming, new $32 million Natatorium.
The 45,000-square-foot facility includes amenities such as an Olympic-sized pool, a hot tub, steam room, offices for coaches, stands for 400 fans and new team locker rooms.
It will replace the DakotaDome, which had housed the program since 1979 and hosted its last swim meet in January.
Swimmers obviously couldn’t have been more excited to see the new facility, as shown here on Twitter when they got their first look. There were lots of smiles, jaws dropping in amazement and jubilant cheers.
Home. #GoYotes x #WeAreSouthDakota pic.twitter.com/MrUz35yHeV
— South Dakota Swim & Dive (@SDCoyotesSwim) April 15, 2025
“Our biggest thing is just space,” said South Dakota swimming and diving head coach Jason Mahowald said to Dakota News Now. “We’re coming from a six-lane, 25-meter pool over at the DakotaDome and that was an unbelievable facility for us for 50 years, but here we’re going to have 22 practice lanes, double the amount of diving boards we had in the Dome pool. The amount of practice time that we have to spend in the water will be reduced greatly.” Work began on the project in 2019, but the university and swim program had to deal with pandemic and construction-induced delays.
It will be more than just a space for the swim program to enjoy, given it will also be open to the general public and campus community. The city of Vermillion contributed $1 million in funding towards the project.
“From my personal side of things, I was told about this idea in 2016,” former South Dakota swimmer and current Aquatics Coordinator Wyatt Thompson said to Dakota News Now. “It was a dream one day and just year by year that dream has become more and more of a reality. Walking into the building for the first time, it was literally just a dream come true and every single day the dream gets more and more real. As things get more and more done, as we (got) closer to open, it’s almost like Disneyland for me.”
South Dakota finished second in both the women’s and men’s events at February’s Summit League Championships. The women were second, while the men were third in 2024.
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