SLIPPERY ROCK — Have water, will swim.

That was the attitude the Slippery Rock youth swimming team took this summer as its season was nearly wiped out by lack of an available facility.

The team usually uses the Slippery Rock University pool, but that was and continues to be unavailable due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our kids made so much progress building a competitive program the past two years,” SRST coach Robin Plank said. “Sitting on the sidelines was not an option to them.”

Even when the pademic hit in March, the Slippery Rock youth team stayed in shape through dry-land training.

Plank started making calls, looking for a pool her team could use for practice this summer. The competitive schedule had already been wiped out.

Several open water swimmers competed in June, July and August races held at Moraine State Park, the distances ranging from a quarter-mile through 3.1 miles.

“Competition fuels any athlete,” Plank said. “You can train and train, but it gets discouraging if there's no competition to test how much you've gained from it.”

Six Slippery Rock youth swimmers placed at Moraine State Park's “Mighty Moraine” series open-water swim Aug. 16. Emma Plank finished third overall in the 5K, Anna Plank fourth in her age group and Cora Pank third in hers.

Maggie Massella placed third overall in the 2-mile, Mollie Massella second in her age group and Raely FaJohn third in hers in the 1-mile.

The team found a training facility at Camp Crestfield, a camp in Slippery Rock that has an outdoor pool. The pool has three lanes and is 25 yards in length, so the practice regimen was limited.

But it was practice.

“We weren't even sure we were going to open the pool this summer,” Camp Crestfield executive director Gene Joiner said. “While we were debating, we got that call from Robin.

“It turned out to be a match made in heaven.”

Not only did the pool open for the Slippery Rock team, it began an open swimming program for the community as well.

“We were able to hold some camps along with give people a place to swim,” Joiner said. “Most of the pools up this way didn't open this year.”

The Slippery Rock team had 50 youths train all summer at Camp Crestfield. They practiced for an hour each at different intervals.

“The SRU pool had six lanes, so we couldn't get everybody in a three-lane pool all at once,” Plank said. “The water was cold at first, 68 degrees, so our youngest age groups couldn't take part. Everyone else just dealt with it.

“We were pulling snakes and frogs out of the gutters (when the pool first opened). The kids would see one, the coaches would go get it. Everybody worked together.”

The team was so grateful to Camp Crestfield that it decided to pay back the favor.

The bathhouse next to the pool was in need of a paint job.

“Gene told us they couldn't afford to buy the paint and everything to get the job done, so we took it on ourselves,” Plank said. “It was our way of paying back the tremendous favor they did for us.

“We take on a community project every year anyway to show the kids the importance of giving back. This one was perfect.”

The paint job was done last week.

And Joiner was amazed.

“It was something to see,” he said. “There were 30-plus kids here, rollers and brushes all over the place, seven cans of paint ... They did the inside and the outside.

“It was a fabulous job.”

Plank said she had more swimmers turn out for the summer program than in previous years “probably because there wasn't as much for kids to do this summer.”

The SRST's busiest season is the winter. With the SRU pool still not open, Plank went looking for a new home again.

“I called 45 different facilities and heard back from two,” Plank said. “But we got both of them.”

The team will swim at the Cool Springs Fitness and Aquatics Center in Mercer and the Buhl Fitness Center in Sharon this winter.

“We checked with the parents on the commitment because these are long commutes,” Plank admitted. “The Sharon pool is 40 minutes away. But they were on board. They want to keep swimming.”

And they have a place to call home next summer, should they want it.

“I'm hoping that Slippery Rock team comes back and uses our pool every summer,” Joiner said. “Those are great kids and that's a great program.”