The Shackell siblings are taking advantage of the 10 day break between the US Olympic Swimming Trials and Team USA’s departure for Raleigh, North Carolina to start final preparations, by making some local appearances to celebrate their achievements.
That included throwing out the first pitch at Victory Field on Sunday, home to the Indianapolis Indians minor league baseball team. The club is a AAA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Indianapolis squad won the game 6-4 over the Iowa Cubs in front of 12,298 spectators. The club has led Minor League Baseball in attendance each of the last two seasons, though this game was about 33% higher than average crowd.
The official first pitch was at 1:38, meaning the pair still had time to watch the game and go down the street to Lucas Oil to be formally announced as part of the full US Olympic Swim Team later that evening.
Aaron Shackell, 18, earned his spot on the team by winning the men’s 400 free in 3:45.46; he later finished 8th in the 200 free final after winning a swim-off over fellow teen Daniel Diehl to make the final.
Alex Shackell swam 2:06.69 to finish 2nd in the 200 fly and secure her spot on the Olympic Team behind Regan Smith. In that race, Alex Shackell was the only interloper in an otherwise 1-3-4-5 finish for Longhorn Aquatics swimmers.
She then reaffirmed her place with a 6th place finish in the 200 free in 1:57.05.
She also swam prelims and semis of the 100 fly before scratching out of the final as the 4th qualifier.
Both swimmers hail from Carmel, Indiana, where they swam for the Carmel Swim Club and Carmel High School – about 30 minutes from the meet in Indianapolis. Carmel has leaned hard into the success of its swimming program over the last month, dubbing itself as “Swim City USA”. Aaron spent the fall semester training at Cal before returning home to Carmel to finish his Olympic preparations.
He will begin his sophomore season of eligibility in the fall at the University of Texas.
Alex Shackell, the #1 recruit for the girls class of 2025, committed last September. Her twin Andrew Shackell is committed to the Cal men for 2025.
This is the second generation of Shackell Olympic swimmers: father Nick represented Great Britain at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, and he met mother Ali while the two were both All-American swimmers at Auburn.
The two are one of two pairs of siblings to make the US Olympic Swimming Team this year: Alex and Gretchen Walsh will also race in Paris.