By Tony Williams

Auburn’s eight senior swimmers hail from five different U.S. states and two different countries. Among them is a spear fisherman, an aspiring television reporter, a photographer and a climbing enthusiast. Yet, over the last four years, fans of Auburn swimming have noticed one major similarity: all eight of them can find their way across a swimming pool and not waste much time doing it.

Between them they have 68 All-America honors, 11 medals in international competition, 13 individual SEC championships, and five individual NCAA championships. As their final meet, the 2006 NCAA championships, approaches, the group is immensely proud of what they have accomplished as Auburn Tigers.

“Going out on top, as national champions, would be icing on the cake for both the men’s and women’s team,” senior Eric Shanteau said. “But we don’t want our success to define us. We won’t let it.”

What the seniors would rather have define them is their diversity and the relationships they have built over their years together.

The four women, Jeri Moss, Jana Kolukanova, Laura Duerk and Erin Volcan feel that their differences played a role in their growth as swimmers and as young women. With Moss and Volcan from southern California, Duerk from Ohio and Kolukanova from Estonia, the senior girls come from different worlds, and certainly a different environment than a small Alabama college town.

Yet, for some reason, they did.

“I knowingly chose culture shock when I came here and I feel fortunate to have made that decision,” women’s team member Jeri Moss said. “I have been truly blessed being here with these people. There is a level of support and encouragement that people have here that I don’t think exists anywhere else.”

Another thing that cannot be found elsewhere is the kind of success these women have experienced. These four seniors have won three team Southeastern Conference championships and are chasing their third NCAA championship in four years. They attribute that success, again, to diversity. But this time it’s the diverse coaching styles of David Marsh and his staff.

“We are forever indebted to this coaching staff,” Moss said. “They are all completely different people with completely different styles. Each of them brings something we can relate to as athletes and as young people.”

Youth won’t be a limitation to these women’s experience, however. All of them believe that the bond they have formed here at Auburn will last them long past their college days. The aspiring doctor from Ohio, the Spanish-language enthusiast, the future ESPN sideline reporter from California and the devoted rock-climber from Estonia have become life-long friends, and that’s how they want to remember their college swimming experience.

“We will have a special connection with each other thirty years from now,” Moss said. “We’re not friends simply because we’re on the same team. We have a very genuine friendship that extends beyond swimming.”

Genuine friendship is a sentiment the men’s swimmers echoed, too, when discussing their final year together. Shanteau, Doug Van Wie, George Bovell, and Kurt Cady came to Auburn from as close as Lilburn, Ga. and as far away as Trinidad and Tobago.

And though the men’s individual backgrounds may be different from the women’s, the outcome of their association has been very similar.

“We all come from different backgrounds but we have been through so much together,” Shanteau said. “We swim together and are great friends outside the pool. I have more memorable experiences with those guys than I have time to talk about.”

One thing the men hope will top their list of experiences is a fourth consecutive national championship. Having already won four straight Southeastern Conference championships and having never lost a dual meet, the 2006 NCAA championships are not just a chance at a national title, but a chance at completing careers of perfection.

“Obviously, it would mean a great deal to us to finish our careers without losing,” senior Doug Van Wie said. “But at this point it’s hard to reflect on it because we’re not finished yet. We’re still focused on the NCAA meet.”

Whereas the women spoke first of the coaches, the men spoke first of their former teammates, and soon after of their coaches, when asked to whom they owe their success. The men’s team has been put in a unique situation by the swimmers that came before them, and they feel a responsibility to many of their former Tiger teammates to keep the unbeaten streak alive. Their own personal careers and the possibility of completing them without blemish is merely an afterthought.

The spear fishing George Bovell, the wakeboarding Eric Shanteau, the photographer Doug Van Wie, and the aspiring architect Kurt Cady will swim together for the last time as Auburn Tigers in Atlanta, Ga., at the NCAA Championships. They’ll swim for their former teammates, for a career of perfection, and for a national championship. What they prefer not to consider, is the feeling of finality they will experience after their last race.

The women’s team feels the same way. Win or lose, there is an uncertainty that comes with knowing this is the last time they’ll swim together.

“I’m both excited and devastated,” Moss said. “I’m excited about new doors opening for me after this but devastated because this team and these people have been such a huge part of my life.”

These eight swimmers have indeed been a huge part of each other’s lives. They came from all over the world, and they may return home or to other walks of life, but they have already experienced something special in their time together, and only a part of that took place in the swimming pool.

“The first thing I do when I think about my experience here is smile,” Moss said. “I don’t have the words to explain how it feels to be so wholly encompassed in something like this. It has been an experience I will carry with me forever.”

“I wont miss the early morning practices,” Van Wie said. “But working towards such a high goal with a bunch of my closest friends is probably something I won’t ever get to experience again.”

As all eight athletes swim their final competitions and have their final times recorded in the record books, the 2006 season will draw to a close. For these eight, however, the relationships and the lessons they’ve learned will begin to guide the next phase of their lives. They will remember Auburn University for the support it provided them. They will remember their coaches for the lessons learned both in and out of the natatorium. They might, perhaps, remember the success they shared in the pool. But they will definitely remember the fact that they took this journey together.