`We Were Prepared To Dominate' -- The 1997 Auburn S&D Team remembers the first title

Oct. 4, 2017

by Dan Froehlich
Auburn Media Relations

For David Marsh, the time had finally come.

It was the morning of March 29 and there was a session-and-a-half left in the 1997 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis. Knowing that his team had racked up enough points over the first two days and qualified enough swimmers for Saturday night's finals session, the first NCAA Championship in program history was guaranteed.

Show up, get on the blocks, jump in and finish.

But first, there was some business to take care of.

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

Marsh, an All-American backstroker at Auburn in the early 80's, returned to his alma mater as head coach in 1990. From his first day on the job, his goal was to the change the mentality and focus of the program and turn it into not only a conference contender but a national contender as well.

Nick Shackell and the Tigers ran away with the title

"In order to accomplish our goals the Auburn men will need to fully commit to the pursuit of excelling both in and out of the pool," Marsh was quoted in the 1990-91 Auburn Swimming and Diving Media Guide Outlook. "When asked about keys to our success this year it all comes down to a matter of choices! How to train on a daily basis, how to eat right, excelling efforts and getting sufficient rest are all components in the development of a top NCAA athlete. Fortunately, swimming is the type of sport where less talented athletes can beat the more talented athletes by training better and being more focused -- and doing what it takes."

The year before Marsh was hired, Auburn's men had finished fifth at the SEC meet and didn't score a point at the NCAA meet. The goal in 1991 was to "be the most improved men's swim team in the nation. A Southeastern Conference top four and/or an NCAA top 20 finish is within reach," that same preview boasted.

That season the team hit one of the goals, finishing 20th at the NCAA meet with 42 points.

The 1992 team improved upon that, finishing 15th with 85 points.

Then 1993 was even better, a sixth-place finish at nationals and a runner-up showing at the conference meet.

By 1994, the notion that Marsh and company were not to be taken lightly was realized as the program claimed its first SEC title and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA meet, scoring a program-record 301.5 points.

A NCAA third-place showing in 1995 and a runner-up finish in 1996 had laid the foundation and made the Tigers eager to make the break-through.

"When I first got to Auburn I asked them to make this about the future and not about the now," Marsh said last week while recalling his early years coaching Auburn. "The tone we are going to set is for what the atmosphere is going to be like in the future.

"In 1996 we should have won the NCAA Championship but we committed fully to the Olympic Trials and three weeks before the NCAAs we were shaved and prepared at the Olympic Trials and that wasn't the way all the college programs went about business," Marsh said.

THE SPARKPLUG

By 1997, with no Olympic Trials to worry about and a team loaded with veteran leadership, led by senior captain Nick Shackell, Marsh and his boys were ready for the challenge.

Growing up in Surrey, England, Shackell originally swam at UCLA, competing for the Bruins as a freshman. But as luck would have it, UCLA shut down its men's program following his freshman season so he and two others, All-Americans Michael Andrews and Randy Hartley, packed their bags and headed east to Auburn. Andrews and Hartley both finished their eligibility in 1996, leaving Shackell to captain the '97 squad.

"Nick was the cornerstone of the team," Marsh said. "All year Nick was the guy that kept the accountability at its highest level within the team. Nick was not going to lose this championship."

"We had some great swimmers and divers on that team," Shackell said. "John Hargis was an Olympian. Koffi Kla was an All-American diver. Scott Tucker was an Olympian. So to be chosen one of the captains and to be a part of that team that was able to accomplish a lot, you look back and it probably means more to me now."

"Koffi was a guy that came in and was respected for his work ethic," diving coach Rick Theobald said. "Koffi made a huge impact. He was in the hunt to win the conference, he was in the hunt to win the qualifying meet, but he was not considered an odds-on-favorite to win anything at NCAAs, yet he was respected enough by his teammates to be named team captain."

Moving along at a good pace but not quite the championship level it had expected, a mid-year influx of talent provided what would prove to be the ultimate dart to the top of the charts.

"From what I heard, things didn't really click in the fall but when we (international freshmen Brett Hawke, Roman Barnier and Lionel Moreau) joined the team for Christmas training something clicked and there was a spark and the team dynamic changed completely," Hawke said.

Swimming at home against defending national champion Texas on Jan. 10, Hawke, the newcomer, won the 50 free.

"Texas, nor I, really knew who this guy really was other than he was really quick," Marsh said. "And he broke 20 seconds. When that I happened I knew we had found our sparkplug. That meet in January was a real sign that we were ready to do battle against the best."

From that point on the team was literally and figuratively off to the races.

Auburn blistered the field at the 1997 SEC Championships, scoring a 100.5-point margin of victory over Tennessee with 780.5 points, winning a then-school record nine individual championships.

A month later, it was time to head to Minneapolis to show Texas -- and the rest of the country - that January was no fluke.

NCAA DAYS 1 AND 2

"I remember going in we weren't the clear favorites," Hawke said. "The Texas team that had won the year before were the favorites going in, but we were super confident. We had a group of guys that we thought could really compete. From the very first swim, the 200 freestyle relay, we really set the tone, qualifying first."

Auburn opened the NCAA Championships with a win in the 200 free relay. Hawke, the speedy import, led off before turning the race over to fellow freshman Matt Busbee. Aaron Ciarla, the third freshman on the relay, swam the third leg before Shackell brought home the title.

"From that moment we were prepared to dominate three days of competition," Hawke said. "It wasn't something we were going to sit and wait for, we were going to get it."

Later that day, Auburn advanced seven swimmers to the finals of the 50 free, three to the championship heat and four to the consolation heat. Hawke swam a 19.19 to win the event, upsetting Texas' Neil Walker, who was the presumed favorite after setting a NCAA record during the morning prelims. The title was Auburn's first in the event since the legendary Rowdy Gaines won it at the 1979 championships.

"I remember standing at the blocks, looking at Neil and he looked nervous," Hawke said. "I just looked at him and smiled. I felt like I was going to beat him and when I did our team just went nuts."

After just one day -- six events -- Auburn had won three titles, also winning the 400 medley relay, and had already built a 66-point lead over Texas.

The rout was on.

Day two and the Tigers were back at it, winning the 200 medley relay to open up the night session. Though no more titles were won that night, the team had built a seemingly insurmountable lead over second-place Stanford, leading by 110.5 points.

Then came Saturday morning.

THE TEAM MEETING

As Marsh preached then and continued to throughout his coaching career, championships are won in the morning.

"We wanted to break (the competition's) spirit on the last morning and set a tone from the first event," Hawke said. "It felt like we were getting everything we wanted in terms of swims back. Everything was going our way. You could see the rest of the teams were deflated."

With event prelims in all but the relay concluded, Marsh knew his team had won. All they needed to do was show up that night, swim and collect the hardware.

"Before the relay but after the (prelims) session was over, I knew we had done enough to put it away," Marsh said. "I grabbed Rowdy (who was one of the TV broadcasters) and I pulled him into the bathroom and I yelled with him, jumping up and down hugging each other, saying `We're going to win a NCAA Championships!'"

Following the 400 free relay prelims, it was time to for Marsh to let the team in on what he and Gaines had already celebrated.

"David pulled us aside into a room, started crying and told us we had won the championships," Hawke said. "To see David emotional, because all year he's riding us, and to finally crack -- it's a great memory."

"I said at that meeting, remember who brought you here, whose shoulders you climbed on to get you here and then remember you're setting a legacy for the future," Marsh said.

"There was a lot of emotion there," Shackell said. "The senior class had worked toward the championship and bought into David's message for a long time."

"If I remember it right, it was the best team meeting Coach Marsh ever did," Theobald said. "I think he prefaced it by saying the finals are coming up and we need to work on some logistical things here. He drew a picture of the pool, said `Here's where we are' and we all thought he was going to tell us how we had to cheer and get behind everyone. But he said, `And here's where the races end, and here's where the award stand is and we need to figure out how to get from our bleachers to the top of the award stand!' People were at a fever pitch and were so competitive, they would have run through walls for Coach Marsh at that time. That took the pressure off and the team started to enjoy it. It just burst forth the mental dam and it was just one tremendous performance after another."

With the nighttime session a mere formality, Auburn sent four to the blocks in the championship finals of the 100 free and then won the final event, the 400 free relay, by over two seconds and just .16 seconds off the American record.

In the end, Auburn had won five titles, winning four out of five relays to go along with Hawke's individual title. Of the 18 athletes who went to the championship, 16 earned a collective 52 All-America honors, both of which still rank among the top five in school history. The 496.5 points were a program-high, and have only been topped four other times in school history.

THE AFTERMATH

Auburn would follow up the '97 title with a second-place finish in '98, a national title in '99 and a runner-up finish in 2000. The program would also win six out of seven NCAA Championships from 2003-09, including the first five straight. The '97 team also began a run of 16 straight conference titles.

"Ninety-six stung a lot because we thought we were favored to win," Shackell said. "In '97 it was, `Come to training every morning and night and focus on the job at the end of the year'. If we did that we'd have a shot and it ended up being a blowout that we didn't expect."

"The best mental picture I have of that championship is of Brett," Theobald said. "There is an iconic photo of him clenching his fist after he won the 50. It was almost primal the way he looked. That sums it up. The emotion that was on his face. This was more than that. This was justification for what we had done as a team."

"The last thing that I wanted to happen was for the '97 team to be one-and-done," Marsh said. "The challenge was that as we're doing it they understand that they are going to a part of the process of the future as well. Up until '97 we were winning with personalities and inspirational moments and the gritty work that (strength coach Bryan Karkoska) PK is putting the guys through - amazing, cutting-edge stuff that no one is doing at that stage. He was making them so tough in the weight room that they really believed there was no athlete on that pool deck tougher than they were. The standard had been set by the '93, '94, '95 and '96 teams that the `Auburn Way' was always the most challenging way."

"This is something we look back on with a lot of pride," Shackell said. "I didn't know what elite college swimming was all about. UCLA was good but I joined a team that came in fourth the year before I got here and then we went third, second and then we won. It's a bond all of keep and we can pick up the phone or see each other at a football game and it's like we've never been apart."

"Climbing that mountain the first time was probably harder than being up there for a couple of years," Theobald said. "We were changing the way people thought."

Brett Hawke won the 50 free and was on three winning relays

Auburn's 1997 National Championship swimming and diving team will be recognized at halftime of the Auburn-Ole Miss football game this Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

A condensed version of this story will be in Saturday's Auburn Football Illustrated.