Facilities

If Stanford Athletics is recognized as "Home of Champions," then one can argue the most prolific room in the house is the Avery Aquatic Center. Since opening in its current form in 2001, the magnificent facility has been home to four NCAA team champions, 50 individual NCAA titles, 16 Pac-10 Conference team champions, 162 individual Pac-10 titles, six MPSF team titles, four U.S. Collegiate team champs, 20 U.S. Collegiate individual titles and 33 Stanford Olympians (through the 2008 Games) in the sports of men's and women's water polo, men's and women's swimming and diving and synchronized swimming.

The Avery Aquatic Center is the home of all Stanford aquatic teams, and widely considered to be the finest outdoor swimming and diving facility in the United States and perhaps the world.

The Avery Aquatic Center has hosted the 2004 and 2008 USA Olympic Swimming Team prior to the Olympics, the 2004 & 2011 Summer Junior and Senior Swimming Nationals and the 2006 FINA Masters World Championships - which featured 7,200 athletes from 75 different countries competing in all five aquatic disciplines. America's best divers came to The Farm in the summer of 2007 for the Kaiser Permanente National Diving Championships. The facility has also hosted the 2009 U.S. National Synchronized Swimming Championships, the Synchronized Swimming 2010 U.S. Collegiate Nation Championships and 2010 & 2012 Junior Olympic Water Polo Championships. The top collegiate water polo players descended on the Avery Aquatic Center in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008 for the NCAA Men's Water Polo National Championships and 2004 & 2008 for the NCAA Women's Water Polo National Championships.

Initially christened the deGuerre Pool Complex after Dorothy and Sidney deGuerre, the original facility was completed in 1972. In May 1999, an extensive renovation and expansion began that would ensure a world-class home for Stanford Aquatics well into the future. Behind these efforts were the generosity and passion for water sports of Burt and Marion Avery and their family.

As it stands today, Avery Aquatic Center features four separate pools: the Avery Competition Pool, the Maas Diving Center, the Belardi Pool and the Baker Pool. The main attraction is the Competition Pool, which can hold up to 2,530 fans (2,480 fixed seating) and hosts all of Stanford's collegiate swimming, water polo and synchronized swimming events. One of the fastest pools in the nation, the Competition Pool is 37 meters long and 20 meters wide, tapers from 11 to 14 feet deep and features dual one-meter and three-meter springboards on the south end.

Avery Aquatic Center also houses the Maas Diving Center, which stands as the finest outdoor diving facility in the country. Stanford student-athletes, along with divers from around the world, are treated to a concrete dive tower with platforms at 1, 3, 5, 7.5 and 10 meters. The dive tower is flanked on each side by dual one-meter and three-meter springboards.

Complementing the two world-class competition areas are a pair of top-rate training pools which offer Stanford student-athletes and coaches tremendous flexibility when designing training programs. The Belardi Pool is 50 meters long, 25 meters wide and tapers to a depth of 11 feet in the center, while the Baker Pool is also 50 meters long, but 25 yards wide and with a varying depth of 4 1/2 to 8 1/2 feet.

Stanford's many student-athletes in the aquatic disciplines have four locker rooms at their disposal. The Sandy Foundation Team Room is used by the Men's Water Polo team and is located on the east side of the Avery competition pool deck. The Harold A. Miller Team Room is used by the Women's Water Polo and Synchronized Swimming teams and is located on the west side of the Avery competition pool deck. Both rooms were refurbished by Joan and Mel Lane in 1996 and then again in 2010 by an anonymous donor. In 2000, two additional team locker rooms were completed. The Men's Timkin Team Room and the Women's Team Room which are now in use by the Swimming and Diving teams.

The many fans of Cardinal Aquatics can keep track of the meets, events and games via a Daktronics scoreboard on the north end of the Avery Competition Pool.

Avery Aquatic Center is truly among the best facilities in the world, and ensures that Stanford University and Cardinal student-athletes will be at the forefront of the aquatics world well into the future.