Diving board issue raises questions at Oak Park-River Forest

• Reprints

Updated: February 20, 2012 9:01AM

Mark Pappalardo was never able to practice on campus or compete in a home meet while diving for Lyons Township.

Now as Oak Park-River Forest’s diving coach, Pappalardo is afraid the same situation will arise for future Huskies divers.

Officials stunned members of the program last week by removing the diving board from the school’s swimming pool, citing safety precautions. The school planned to replace the board over winter break, but its vendor told school officials that there may be a violation regarding the distance between the ceiling and the bottom of the pool according to new federal and state standards.

“The school’s pool was grandfathered in under the federal and state standards adopted in 2010, but the exemptions no longer apply in the event the measurements do not meet standards with the installment of a new board,” OPRF communications director Katherine J. Foran said in a statement. “Engineers provided two sets of measurements over Winter Break, with the pool full and empty, confirming that the pool measurements do not meet current standards to allow the pool’s use for diving, by less than 5 inches total.”

Pappalardo, in his fourth season as coach, has helped develop senior Ben Lewis into one of the top divers in the state. Lewis placed eighth in last year’s state meet. Lewis placed third at the Hinsdale Central Invitational on Saturday, behind New Trier’s Jordan Sax and Loyola’s Michael Nash in a possible preview of this year’s state meet. The Hinsdale Central meet is the biggest one of the season, with 52 competitors.

The OPRF boys team now practices at Fenwick before school, and at Riverside-Brookfield after school. Pappalardo said practices are limited at each school due to the host’s own diving practices. At Fenwick, the Huskies are only able to practice once or twice a week. At R-B, the school has its own diving well, but OPRF divers must share the pool with R-B’s own swimmers. Foran said the schools are not charging OPRF for the time.

OPRF’s last home meet is against Lyons Township on Friday, but the diving competition will be held at LT.

When Pappalardo attended LT, the La Grange school did not have a board at its North Campus pool, and the current modernized pool at the Western Springs South Campus was not yet built. Pappalardo practiced at York during his high school career.

“We are obviously disappointed with this development,” said OPRF athletic director John Stelzer. “And the issue does raise challenges for next year’s girls and boys diving seasons.”

According to OPRF officials, the boys diving team currently has nine divers, compared to two or three divers several years ago.

“I’m optimistic that in the future we’ll be able to address these issues,” said Pappalardo, who also was a diver for the University of Illinois-Chicago.