Tashy Bohm won three Big Ten Championships in the 200 backstroke from 1999-2001.
By Sara Romano
EVANSTON, Ill. -- When members of the late 1990s Northwestern women's swimming and diving teams gathered Saturday to celebrate the 15-year anniversary of the 2000 squad's sixth-place finish at the NCAA national championships, the most hotly discussed topic was head coach Jimmy Tierney's missing mustache.
"Jimmy is still here," said Tashaina Bohm, a key member of the 2000 team, "but his mustache is not. That's what I remember most about that year: Jimmy's mustache."
The team was honored during the TYR Invitational at the Norris Aquatics Center in Evanston in commemoration of the highest-ever NCAA finish in program history. Members from teams ranging from 1995 through 2000 were on hand to represent an era of top-10 NCAA finishes for the program that culminated in the 2000 team's accomplishment.
Led by seniors Godwin, Bowman, Amy Balcerzak and Courtney Allen, the 2000 squad took home six Big Ten Championships, 12 All-America awards in 11 events and 11 Academic All-Big Ten awards.
But what stands out the most in the minds of the former swimmers is not the statistics or the records. Rather it is the camaraderie and friendships among the team members that remain most significant.
"The team was my life," remembers Brianne Fowles Godwin, a 2000 All-American in the 400 free relay.
Allyson Bowman Sterling, a four-time All-American, agreed: "Our team was so close it was like a little family. I think when you suffer together, it creates this bond that is just impenetrable ... where you can get back together, and even though our lives all took different trajectories, you just have this common foundation."
Sitting at dinner together later that night, the members of the team recounted stories about the workouts that brought them so close together and bred their success. There was one tale of a now defunct annual Oct. 1 open-water training session in Lake Michigan spearheaded by former men's head coach Bob Groseth, and another of a training trip workout so grueling that one team member had to empty tears from her goggles before continuing.
"Even `Hell Week' was fun," recalled Bohm, who won three Big Ten titles in the 200 backstroke and was a four-time All-American.
Still able to boast the highest-ever NCAA finish in program history, the 2000 women's team helped to establish Northwestern swimming as a national force.
"The program has gotten stronger and stronger, " Godwin said. "The women's team is not only aspiring to be [at NCAAs], but is probably up against harder competition."
While the actual pool at Northwestern remains the same, the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Norris Aquatics Center have gotten significant upgrades since 2000.
"It kind of makes it feel like the program has grown, since the physical space has grown," Godwin continued.
While the former swimmers agree that at the time, their accomplishment seemed like just another day at the pool, Sterling may have said it best. "I feel a lot of pride just to have been a part of this group."
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