Daytona Beach Swimming

The pool is on sale for about $1 million, which is about $500,000 to $400,000 cheaper than the normal market price, said Mike Mintenko, a regional manager for Myrtha Pools USA.

Mintenko said interest in buying the pool is intense with about 30 swimming clubs from across the United States making inquiries.

"I would like an offer sooner rather than later," Mintenko said.

Myrtha builds swimming pools for special events, which can be later reassembled for a permanent owner after the competition. Florida State University, for example, purchased one of the swimming pools used in the 2005 world swimming championship in Montreal, Mintenko said.

Lochte said the Omaha sale is an opportunity to get two pools for the price of one because it's an L-shaped pool that can be split into an eight-lane, 50-meter-long Olympic pool and smaller, 25-meter-long pool with five lanes.

Currently, competitive swimmers have to share outdoor YMCA pools where senior citizens do aerobics to 1950s rock music and kids splash in the shallow end. Daytona Beach Community College has an indoor pool but it's not an Olympic-sized pool and poor acoustics in the building make it difficult to communicate to swimmers, Lochte said.

Lochte would eventually like to build a facility around the Olympic pool with a retractable roof so swimmers can use it even in colder weather.

The Volusia County Beach Patrol, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office scuba team and local schools all could benefit with a new pool for training and swim classes, Lochte said. Because the Daytona Beach area could use the pool to host regional and even world swimming competitions, the economic impact would be enormous, Lochte said.

He knows there is potential because the area has already missed out on opportunities. When Daytona Beach hosted a world lifeguard competition in 2002, for example, it lost the indoor races to Orlando because it didn't have the facilities, Lochte said.

"Why not keep all that money here?" he said.

Despite local challenges, Lochte anticipates that seven swimmers from the Daytona Beach area will qualify for the trials for the United States' Olympic team.

A new pool would make up for an anomaly.

"We have world-class athletes and world-class coaches, but we have mediocre swim facilities," said Charlie Lydecker, a member of Daytona Beach Swimming Masters team.

Ryan's Record

Ryan Lochte, 23, of Port Orange, a 2002 graduate of Spruce Creek High School *2004 Olympic Gold medalist in the 800-meter freestyle relay team

*2005 World Championship gold medalist in the 800-meter freestyle relay

*Set a world record in upsetting Aaron Peirsol in the 200 backstroke at the world championships in 2007 and was part of the world-record setting 800 individual medley team with Michael Phelps, Klete Keller and Peter Vanderkaay.

*An 11-time NCAA All-American at the University of Florida

- News-Journal Research

At a Glance:

The Daytona Beach area has several swimmers who are likely to be competing at the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials in late June in Omaha. They include:

*2004 Olympian and world record-holder Ryan Lochte

*University of Florida swimmer Rex Tullius

*UF swimmer Matt Norton

*Ex-Spruce Creek swimmer Dustin McLarty

*Current UF swimmer Kyle Deery

Other swimmers who may qualify are:

*Current Spruce Creek swimmers Ginny Grams and Shaun Casey

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