If Indiana the state was itself a country, it would’ve placed 11th with 28 medals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. If Carmel Swim Club was a country, it would’ve been tied with five other countries with two medals. One of the nation’s most notable swim organizations in the nation calls Hamilton County home, and Carmel Swim Club continues to make waves in competitive swimming after placing three swimmers in the Olympics.
Olympian siblings Aaron and Alex Shackell make Carmel their home and proudly swim for Carmel Swim Club, which was established in 1973 to teach excellence through swimming for life. Carmel High School, Indiana’s high school swimming dynasty with 38 straight girl’s and 10 straight boy’s state championships, recently hosted a welcome home party for their Olympians. More than 250 people showed up to support the Shackells and get a glimpse of the Olympic medals up close.
“It was a chance to revel in the excitement of their teammates competing in the Olympic games,” said Maggie Mestrich, who is Director of Business Development for Carmel Swim Club. “We cheered them on and it gave everyone a chance to spend some time and our kids got to ask questions and celebrate their teammates’ achievements.”
Aaron, the oldest child in the family, was the first Team USA male swimmer to punch his ticket to Paris at the Olympic Swim Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium. He was the only American to make the 400m freestyle final and placed 8th while being the youngest swimmer in the 400m final. Coincidentally, it was the second straight Olympics that Carmel has had an athlete in the 400m freestyle, as Jake Mitchell made it at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
Alex, still just 17 years old and still a senior at Carmel High, brought home gold in the 400m medley relay and silver in 800m freestyle relay. She also placed 6th in the 200 fly final.
“She was making history left and right,” Mestrich said. “Every time she got in the pool she made history. And she just kept going.”
In addition to the two Olympian siblings, Alex’s twin brother Andrew is also a standout. He spent time this summer competing for Team USA at the Junior Pan-Pacific Championships in Australia. Swimming fans can see Alex and Andrew compete for Carmel High this year. Another Carmel Swim Club alum who medaled in Paris was 24-year-old Drew Kibler, who brought home silver on the 800m free relay team. Kibler swam two years in Carmel before moving to Arizona to train for legendary coach Bob Bowman.
The Shackells moved to Carmel four years ago with the intention of competing for Carmel Swim Club for head coach/CEO Chris Plumb and associate head coach Chris Pfaff. Carmel Swim Academy holds approximately 475 competitive team swimmers age 5 through young adult. A non-competitive program through Carmel Swim Academy taught 1,500 different swimmers over the last year.
“We are very passionate at Carmel Swim Club to utilize our 50 years of competitive swimming experience to empower our whole community to be safe in the water,” Mestrich said. “And we develop some good swimmers along the way.
“We are so excited about level of swimming statewide and in Hamilton County. It makes all of us better. We are incredibly fortunate to have this wonderful level of competition and quality of programs. Swimming works hard to lift everybody in the sport. Rising tides raise all ships.”
Overall, Carmel Swim Club saw 14 current and alumni athletes qualify for the Olympic Swim Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium. The organization has won the last three Junior National 18U Combined Team Championships and won the 2022 and 2023 Junior National Combined Long Course Team Championships.
More could be on the way as improvements come to the swim facilities in Carmel. In the future, Carmel Swim Club hopes to bring all of its events to a newly-renovated natatorium at Carmel High School. A large expansion that brings 91,000 new square feet to Carmel’s facility is coming soon.
“We have a wonderful partnership with Carmel Clay Schools,” Mestrich said. “We are proud of the support we get from them. We are honored to utilize their facilities.”
From Olympians to kindergartners, Carmel Swim Club continues to reach higher and serve as a point of pride for Hamilton County and beyond.
“Our goal was to qualify athletes to the team, while also inspiring our athletes to dream big,” Mestrich said. “These are their teammates achieving at the highest level. And we accomplished that.”
Outside of Carmel Swim Club, Luke Whitlock of Noblesville and Fishers Area Swim Team made it to Paris in the 800m free. Outside of the water, Carmel’s Rajeev Ram continued to enjoy Olympics excellence on the tennis court. After earning a mixed doubles silver medal in the 2016 games in Brazil, Ram brought home another silver in men’s doubles in Paris
