University of Georgia Athletics
Senior Swimmers Take Final Laps
March 02, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
By John Frierson
UGAAA staff writer
ATHENS, Ga. -- It was a bittersweet Sunday swim for Shannon O'Malley and some of her Georgia teammates. At the end of the two-day Bulldog Invitational Last Chance Meet, they said farewell to their home away from home, Gabrielsen Natatorium.
For O'Malley and men's swimmer Derek Onken, both senior captains, coming up a little short at the end of their last chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships later this month likely marks the end of their Georgia careers. For Courtney Peters, another senior, a spot on the two-time defending national champion UGA women's squad at the NCAAs is still possible.
Regardless, Sunday afternoon's finals were their last races in their home pool.
"Getting to finish in our pool is always good," said O'Malley, from Marietta, Ga., who has B-cut times in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke this season but not A-cut marks. "I definitely didn't swim as fast as I wanted to, but having my teammates here to cheer for me and to hear them on the blocks, that was awesome and something that I'll remember forever."
No sport's practices are all fun and laughs and excitement. There's some measure of repetitiveness and drudgery to each endeavor, but nothing likely compares to swimming.
Track athletes may have to run a lot of laps, going around and around, but the weather, the sky, the trees, all of that changes each day and each season. The black line at the bottom of each lane of the pool is the same for each 90-minute workout at 5:30 a.m. and again during the afternoon swim.
"At the height of training, we're swimming five miles in a practice, twice a day," said Oaken, also from Marietta, who has a B-cut time in the 400 individual medley. "You definitely have to love the sport and if you're training by yourself it's miserable. That's why you have someone to train with, someone pushing you. You have to love racing."
And Oaken loved racing at Gabrielsen Natatorium. He said he took a few extra seconds after his final race Sunday, the 200 backstroke, to soak in the moment.
"A lot of deep breaths and a lot of looking around and taking it in -- the feel of being in the water and the sound of the crowd," he said. "This pool, we had SECs here, we had practice here -- we had everything." Peters is hopeful that her B-cut time in the 200 butterfly will get her to the NCAAs. The senior's last act during a home meet in her Georgia career was counting off laps for her sister Stephanie, a freshman, as she swam a 500-yard freestyle time trial.
Peters, of Acworth, Ga., said she'll be back to cheer on her sister and her former teammates.
"I know she'll do fine and I'll still be here pretty much every meet, when it's home," she said.
Coach Jack Bauerle said that after he wrapped up his Georgia swimming career, he didn't do another significant lap in a pool for six years. The next challenge for the seniors, he said, was figuring out how to push themselves in other ways.
"They're all competitors and they'll all find something," he said.
O'Malley already has her next goal established.
"I'm definitely going to give myself some time to not be in the pool for a little bit," she said. "I want to start running ... and I want to train for a half-marathon or something like that."
That pool, it's a proving ground. Can you put in the work? Can you handle the grind? Can you be a great competitor and teammate?
"What I think our sport does for them is make them accountable," Bauerle said. "As I tell potential employers, they know where they stand with themselves before 7 o'clock in the morning."
Today they stand tall and proud.
"I couldn't have imagined it any differently," O'Malley said. "To spend these last four years with my team, and especially my class, ... and getting to win four SEC titles and hopefully three national championships with this team, that's just amazing."
John Frierson is a staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Hall of Fame at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.