Kingwood High School Natatorium Devastated by Hurricane Harvey

Kingwood High School, home to one of the more successful high school swim programs in Texas state history as well as Blue Tide Aquatics, is officially closed for the year after taking a devastating hit from Hurricane Harvey.

MORE photos of Kingwood High School just taken today… pic.twitter.com/Sij7eG43X8

— Chase Snyder (@ChasingSnyder) August 30, 2017

Its nearly 3,000 students will finish out the school year at Summer Creek High School, where Summer Creek students will attend school in the morning (7AM-11:19AM) and Kingwood students will attend in the afternoon (12:11AM-4:30PM)

The Mustangs were Texas State Champions in swimming on the women’s side as recently as 2011, and both teams are frequently in the top three. Kingwood has been home to several National High School Record holders in its history and has one of the most prestigious high school programs in state history since it opened in 1979. The boys’ program has 6 state titles and the girls program has 4.

In addition to the classroom building damage, the pool and its surrounding offices were ravaged. Water levels on deck, in the locker room, offices, equipment room, and trophy cases reached about 5.5 feet. According to 2012 Kingwood graduate Jamie Friderichs, “All-American plaques that lined the walls, state champions trophies and flags, timing systems, dry land equipment, warm ups, parkas, are all at a total loss.”

While the start of the season will be delayed, Kingwood swimmers are putting their time to good use. The team broke up into work crews last week and went out to help restore houses in the community:

Work crew at the Murray's home. #HUKI pic.twitter.com/EQtzfyF0Xh

— Kingwood Swim & Dive (@khsswimdive) September 1, 2017

Alumni and former coach Laura Ledlow Fine started a GoFundMe page to help the team begin to recover from an estimated $15,000 in damage to the natatorium.

The effort has drawn almost 50 donors for just over $4,000 of the $15,000 goal, so far.

Click here to donate and view more images of the damage.