Finally, some pants that will fit.
Earlier this month, Whiteland broke ground on the first phase of its $235 million expansion, one that will finally allow the high school campus to keep pace with the school’s rapidly growing student population.
The enrollment boom is expected to push the Warriors’ football team up into Class 6A — made up of the state’s 32 biggest high schools — either at the end of the current school year or during the following reclassification cycle in 2026. Whiteland athletic director David Edens has talked a good bit about looking the part and being able to run with the big dogs, and when the five phases of construction are completed, he expects to be there.
“Every single facility that we have is going to get upgrades,” Edens said. “There’s not a group that’s getting missed here.”
The most noticeable upgrade will come in the first phase with the addition of a brand new natatorium. Whiteland’s current six-lane, 25-yard swimming pool will give way to a 10-lane, 50-meter facility similar to the one that Center Grove opened in the summer of 2021.
Approval for a new pool was a “pretty big draw” for current swim coach John Sincroft, who was hired last year and has had a good deal of input on what the coming facility will look like. He sees the expansion as a critical part of growing the swim progam in Whiteland, from lessons all the way up to the high school team, and catching up to the more established powers in the area.
“It’s going to be really important, I think, being able to obviously generate revenue for (Warriors Swim Club) and buy stuff for the kids training-wise,” Sincroft said. “It’s going to be a good draw for our community, and with Whiteland growing like it is, it’s imperative that we’re able to keep up facility-wise with everybody else. In this day and age, with the buildings going on around Marion County and the hub counties, it’s really important to put ourselves in a position to attract students and high-level athletes.”
The new natatorium will make Whiteland the third high school in the county with a 50-meter pool, joining Franklin and Center Grove.
Edens expects the finished product to look similar to Elkhart Health & Aquatics in northern Indiana, one of the highest quality swim facilities in the state. The pool will be deep at the two ends (with a diving well at one of them) and shallower in the middle, which is expected to make the pool faster. There will also be a large digital scoreboard.
Though neither he nor Sincroft got every single item on their wish lists, both are excited about what they are getting. As the father of a competitive swimmer, Edens has attended enough meets to know what parents and other spectators are looking for, and he’s tried to plan accordingly. The audio from the pool’s public address system will connect to the adjoining atrium, where there will also be video feeds that allow people to keep up with the meet from outside of the pool.
Such bells and whistles, Edens says, should help make Whiteland an attractive option for hosting larger meets, such as high school sectionals or championship-level club meets.
“My whole design was beyond just high school swim season,” he said. “We want to use this thing as much as anybody else can use a pool. Now, you’ve got to compete with Franklin and and Center Grove for these things, but financially, it’s such a benefit if you can get a championship meet. That money pays coaches; it really adds to your club when you can host a meet like that.”
Sincroft appreciated having a dedicated swim dad in his corner during the planning process.
“It’s really nice to have him,” the coach said, “because he was helpful in meetings about making sure not too much got cut. It was really nice to have that support.”
The pool — which is expected to be completed around the beginning of 2026 — will be the only sports-related part of the first construction phase, but every sport will be impacted by the time all phases are completed.
Details for the later phases are still being ironed out, according to Clark-Pleasant superintendent Tim Edsell, but the second and third phases are expected to bring a new fieldhouse with multiple courts and an indoor track; a new weight room; a wrestling area where the current swimming pool sits; and new tennis courts. Phases four and five will likely include upgrades to the current football stadium as well as updated baseball and softball fields, perhaps with field turf.
A separately financed project is focused on upgrading the Whiteland soccer complex, which is adjacent to Break-O-Day Elementary, within the next couple of years.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Whiteland to do a project this large, for the next five to six years, that’s going to impact every area of our high school, from academics to fine arts to athletics,” Edsell said. “So we want to make sure that we get the input from all the respective people that are leading it, that are coaching it, that are sponsoring it, so that the area that they’re going to be in, that they’re going to be using with our students, is going to be high quality and it’s going to help us perform better.”
Of course, the long-term benefits will come with short-term costs. Parking is expected to be a mess for much of the construction process, and the possibility exists that one or more teams could be temporarily displaced depending on the timeline of different portions of the project.
Edens notes that there are contingency plans available, most of them tied to what he calls “fantastic” facilities at Clark-Pleasant Middle School.
“There will be periods where we’ll have to be flexible,” he said. “The goal … is to never have a disruption of facilities, but the reality is we may have to use our middle school tennis courts. We may be short a baseball field for a while. So yeah, the construction process is going to be painful … with the patience and understanding that when it’s done, I’m going to have a much better space.”
Both Edens and Edsell point out that the upgrades will allow Whiteland to eventually serve as a more frequent host for major events in most sports, from travel basketball and volleyball tournaments to wrestling invitationals and club swim meets.
Those aren’t realistic options while the Warriors compete in spaces they’ve long since outgrown.
“We are busting at the seams athletically,” Edens said.
Fortunately, tailors are starting the work on the Warriors’ new clothes.
