Residence Life is gearing up for arrival of senior athletes

All but four of the University of Arizona's residence halls will be the weeklong home of thousands of athletes participating in the U.S. National Senior Sports Classic VI, said Jim Van Arsdel, director of the Department of Residence Life.

About 10,000 senior athletes, 15,000 guests and 9,000 volunteers from around the country are expected to converge on Tucson May 21-28 for the event on the UA campus.

Shawna Hansen, assistant executive director for the Tucson local organizing committee, said senior athletes reserved 1,700 rooms in the UA residence halls.

Only Apache-Santa Cruz, Graham-Greenlee, Corleone Apartments and Babcock Halls will not house athletes, Van Arsdel said.

From the time students move out of the halls until the athletes arrive will only be a matter of two to three days, he said.

With so little turn-around time, Van Arsdel said he is enlisting extra help from custodial services as well as the students currently living in the halls.

"We are asking the students to remove all the trash from their rooms, and staff will be going through and cleaning all of the halls," he said.

While Residence Life is pushing for a quick turnover of rooms, most students do not seem to notice any extra pressure to move out.

"I didn't even know they (the athletes) were coming so quickly," said Richard Oosterhuis, an undeclared freshman and Coronado resident.

Another resident of Coronado, Janelle Hicks, an exercise and sports sciences freshman, said she has been told she has 24 hours after her last final to move out, the same amount of time given to residents at the end of the fall semester.

Steve Gilmore, assistant director of Residence Life, said additional cleaning crews will be employed to ensure the rooms are ready for the senior athletes.

He said the cleaning crews will consist of 70 to 80 student employees, 60 to 70 members of the regular custodial staff and an unknown number of volunteers from the community.

"We're going in knowing everything will not be perfect," Van Arsdel said. "We think we can do an excellent job."

In addition to the UA's residence halls, many senior athletes will stay in local hotels.

"There will be thousands (of athletes) in local hotels," Van Arsdel said.

"The athletes choice of where to stay varies and depends on whether or not they want to spend a lot of money or save money and have the convenience and atmosphere of staying on campus," he said.

Many of the senior athletes like the idea of staying in the dorm for a few days.

Helen Fluke, of Salfordville, Penn., will participate in the track and field competition.

Fluke has competed in the Senior Olympics national competition for the past five years.

"We stay in the dorms because it's fun and very convenient," Fluke said.

"You meet a lot of people and you are right where the action is."

Fluke said that she and her husband, Carl, are looking forward to staying with the thousands of athletes who will be living on the UA campus.

Athletes have been assigned to rooms based on individual registration, said Van Arsdel. He said the dorms were filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Hansen said the athletes pay $28 per night for a single room or $40 per night for a double room. She said that rate is based on a four-night minimum stay.