The Downers Grove South girls varsity swim team will compete at the IHSA state finals Friday, Nov. 13, and Saturday, Nov. 14, after a 5-2 season spent entirely away from its own pool.

The DGS pool has been out of use this school year after the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) determined its drain covers did not meet current certification requirements, as first reported by the school's Blueprint newspaper. The agency did not allow the pool to operate. The state meet takes place at FMC Natatorium in Westmont.

A season on the road

Before landing a regular schedule at Downers Grove North's pool, the Mustangs rotated through the Downers Grove Swim and Racquet Club, the YMCA and FMC Natatorium. Some of those facilities had unbalanced chlorine systems or were too warm, according to the Blueprint.

Head coach Paul Krick, a business teacher at DGS, said he did not expect the pool to be closed for the entire season.

"We had to find pools to practice while we were under the assumption that the school would have it open," Krick said, according to the Blueprint.

The team now buses to DGN each morning, starting practice at 5:15 a.m. and returning to DGS before school. Swimmers have three practice windows each day: morning, after school and evening.

Balancing laps and homework

Junior Payton Chastain, a varsity swimmer since her freshman year, said the travel has cut into study time and sleep.

"Sometimes grades can be affected because you can't study as much as you wanted to because you're so, just drained from practices … it's been kind of rough," Chastain said, according to the Blueprint.

Chastain said she prefers the settled DGN arrangement over the earlier pool rotation. She called FMC Natatorium a great facility but said having one consistent practice site works better, according to the Blueprint.

Without its own pool, DGS cannot host home meets. The team instead holds tri-meets alongside DGN and a visiting opponent. Chastain said the swimmers from both schools support each other.

5-2 despite the disruption

Krick said the team showed flexibility through the upheaval and praised the swimmers for making the best of a difficult situation, according to the Blueprint.

The closure traces to a routine maintenance check in spring 2026. The IDPH found the drain covers posed a suction-entrapment risk in the lap pool, and the diving well needed a valve-pump replacement, the Blueprint reported in September. Standard drain covers could not be manufactured to fit the existing pool floor, and the district said it contacted 14 engineering firms nationwide to develop a solution. No reopening date has been announced.

The Mustangs' next stop: FMC Natatorium at Ty Warner Park on Friday.