A Family Summer to Remember: The Story of Matriarch Ali Shackell
The sport of swimming has taken Ali Shackell on a journey all over the world. From her days as a swimmer at Auburn University to her time now as a swim-mom watching her three kids compete, Ali has been able to have an experience with the sport that few recognize.
What Shackell got to watch her children Aaron, Alex, and Andrew experience and achieve this summer was the culmination of everything her and her family has sacrificed to be able to allow their kids to thrive.
The Shackell File
Looking at the swimming accomplishments of both Ali and her husband Nick, it is no surprise that her children have had immense success in the pool. Nick was a standout swimmer for David Marsh at Auburn from 1994-1997. He went on to compete for Great Britain at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, and was on standby in Sydney as a relay-only swimmer.
The then Ali Hansen was a three-time All-American during her time on the Plains. Yet, things almost played out differently for Hansen if it weren’t for the help of a former coach.
As Hansen approached the USA Swimming Nationals during her senior year of high school, she had one official visit remaining. Going into the meet, she had intentions of using the visit to Arizona. However, at Nationals, the Arizona staff informed her that while they would love her to come visit, they had no scholarship money left to offer. Once Hansen heard the news, she knew that she had to look elsewhere.
“I had to tell them ‘no’ once they told me they had no scholarship money left,” Ali said. “My parents told me that I needed to get a scholarship to college, and that was the reason why I was swimming.”
With only a few months left of high school, Hansen had to use her last visit quickly. While at Nationals, she reconnected with her former coach Kristin Burke, who also happened to be Marsh’s wife.
“Kristin was the first coach that I had when I started swimming at Mission Viejo,” Hansen said. “After she heard about my dilemma with Arizona, she encouraged me to come visit Auburn.”
Even though Hansen didn’t know where Auburn was, she took a chance and went on the visit. She quickly fell in love with the campus and the coach who was at the helm of the program starting to make a mark on the national stage.
“I got there and immediately just knew that was where I wanted to be,” Ali said. “David always taught us life lessons, with him it wasn’t about always about swimming.”
The life lessons that Hansen learned ended up being crucial to the success her own children would find in the pool years later.
Summer 2023
The summer of 2023 was a relatively large one in the swimming world. It would be used as one last major tuneup before the Paris Olympics. It would also serve as a chance for newcomers to throw their name into the ring as contenders to make the Olympic team next summer. For Ali’s daughter, Alex, this would stand as her breakout summer.
Going into 2023, Alex was already an accomplished swimmer on the junior national level. She won four Pan Pacific championships the previous summer and was coming off of a record breaking meet at the IHSAA Championships. However, she was still unproven at the national level.
Alex’s performance at the National Championships earned her a spot on the 2023 World Championships team. And in Fukuoka, she contributed to the United States’ silver-medal winning 800 freestyle relay.
“The 200 was an event that she never swam,” Ali said. “We were just in shock, truly in shock, and we did not expect it at all.”
Even though Ali may have been shocked, she admits that Alex wouldn’t share the same sentiment.
“She won’t tell you it was a shock, because she’ll just she’s a ‘let’s go after it’ person. But yeah, it was shocking,” Ali said.
While the 2023 National Championships performances may have been a surprise for the Shackell parents, what transpired at the Olympic Trials the following summer is something Ali would have never predicted.
Home-Pool Trials
The 2024 Olympic Trials were a swimming spectacle that had never been seen before. Record breaking crowds filled into Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis to watch the newest Olympic Team named. More than 1000 swimmers competed in the nine-day competition, with those swimmers representing the top 0.31 percent of active USA Swimming members.
For the Shackells, whose home is only 30 minutes away from Lucas Oil, it provided a sense of normalcy during one of the most intense meets in the world. Though there was normalcy for the Shackells, even Ali admitted that the environment was like nothing she had ever seen before.
“At Trials, it was actually very, very stressful,” Ali said. “It was just, like, can we just have a normal meet at IUPUI. I much prefer that.”
The meet had every reason to be stressful for Ali and her family. For every night except one, from Night One to Night Six, one of her children competed in the finals session.
Making the Team
While stress may have filled the air at Lucas Oil, the Shackell kids knew they were there to finish the job that they had been working toward. That all started on Night One when Aaron put together a dominant performance to win the 400 freestyle and became the first male swimmer named to the Paris Olympic team.
“All I saw when he won was the eight year old little boy,” Ali said. “I didn’t see Aaron as who he was that day. I saw all the years building up to it.”
Just a few days later, Alex confirmed her place on the Paris Team. She finished sixth in the 200 freestyle, but her second-place finish in the 200 butterfly cemented her status as an Olympian.
“When I saw her face on the jumbotron, there was a smile that I had never seen before,” she said. “It was like pure joy, and she was just so happy.
“I never dreamt, I never imagined it, I never let myself go there. It was just, like, it wasn’t real and there were definitely some tears.”
Primetime in Paris
The stress that was found at Lucas Oil Stadium during the Trials is not something that made its way to Paris. Nevertheless, the Olympics were still an emotional experience for the Shackell family and that started on Day One with Aaron’s 400 freestyle.
“We were shaking and crying, because we just couldn’t believe it,” she said. “Nobody predicted Aaron would make the team, and then here he is making the Olympic final.”
After finishing eighth in the final of the 400 free, the emotion that came from Aaron’s swim was just the start of what Ali felt during her week in Paris. A lot of that emotion came from Alex’s performances in the water.
Alex had a week to remember. Due to her preliminary efforts in the 800 freestyle relay, she took home a silver medal, and followed that up by finishing sixth in the 200 fly. Yet, her most exciting accomplishment is one that was not predicted to happen.
On Day Eight of competition, Alex was named to the women’s 4×100 medley relay team and because of her preliminary swim, she left Paris with another medal, this one gold.
“Nick and I had heard there’s a possibility that, because of how certain swimmers were swimming, they could change the relay around,” Ali said. “For Alex, it was very cool, but to her it wasn’t an individual medal. Part of you is never satisfied, there is always more to want.”
Back in Carmel
Following their return from Paris, it wasn’t long before the Shackells got back on a plan to travel halfway across the globe. This time, they were on a plane heading to Australia to watch their other son, Andrew, compete at the Junior Pan Pacs.
“When we found out about a week after (Trials) that he made Junior Pan Pacs, it was a shock, too,” Ali said. “But you make a team like that, and you just want to keep doing it, because you found your people.”
Now that Ali is back home in Carmel, with more than 30,000 miles traveled under her and Nick’s belt, she has had time to reflect on the summer. While the swimming accomplishments have meant a lot to her, seeing how her kids have handled the spotlight is something that confirms all of the sacrifices have paid off.
“I’m really proud of them, not necessarily the swimming or the competing, it’s more the interviews, you could just see their personality,” Shackell said. “Then the best part is, when I hear from other coaches, other parents, the team doctor, the massage therapist or whoever, I’ll hear from them, and they’ll say how impressed they were with my kids and that is like a mom’s dream.”
Such an amazing swimming family and a really well written article! I really enjoyed reading it! Thank you!