AMERICUS, GA (WALB) -
A longtime South Georgia swim team that produced a 6-time Olympic medal winner could have to shut down and you can blame university system budget cuts.
Georgia Southwestern State University plans to close its pool in October.
It's where the Americus Blue Tide trains.
That's the team former US Olympic Swim team captain Angel Myers Martino used to swim for.
As the Americus Blue Tide Swim Team practiced Monday evening, a cloud of uncertainty loomed over parents and team members.
"It cost $60,000 a year to run the pool. It needs another $50,000 in repairs and it brings in less than $10,000 a year in revenue," said GSW University Relations Director Stephen Snyder.
"With them closing the facility, we don't know where they're (swimmers) going to train at, especially in the winter time," said concerned parent Carl Brown.
Tonight, swim team supporters held a meeting on campus to discuss ideas on how to keep the pool open and avoid having to shut down the Blue Tide swim team.
"Some of the kids may go to Albany or Columbus but that's a lot of traveling and a burden for parents especially during school time," said ABT member David Murphy.
Area high school swim teams also use the pool. GSW officials said they took that into consideration while making this decision and that's why reopening the pool is not out of the question.
"We're just draining it and closing it. We're not tearing it down, so that's (reopening the pool) not out of the realm of possibility," said Snyder.
Still parents and team members want something work out sooner than later.
"There are so many swimmers that have gone through the program that have moved on to collegiate type sports. It's just such a confidence builder for our youth today," said Murphy.
They want to make sure young people continue to have the chance to build confidence through swimming.
Several ideas were thrown out in Monday's meeting. One of them is writing alumni to convince them to try to persuade GSW officials to change their minds about closing the pool.
The Americus Blue tide has a rich history of producing talented swimmers. Angel Myers Martino is the most successful. She won three gold medals and three bronze medals between the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.
Copyright 2012 WALB. All rights reserved.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 Worldnow and WALB, a Raycom Media Station. 
