{"id":496839,"date":"2022-03-16T04:49:07","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T11:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=496839"},"modified":"2022-03-16T05:03:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T12:03:40","slug":"mona-mcsharry-and-ellen-walshe-leading-tennessee-volunteers-making-history-for-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mona-mcsharry-and-ellen-walshe-leading-tennessee-volunteers-making-history-for-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"Mona McSharry and Ellen Walshe Leading Tennessee Volunteers, Making History for Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mona McSharry and Ellen Walshe Leading Tennessee Volunteers, Making History for Ireland<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Mona McSharry<\/strong> began considering if she wanted to swim in college in the United States and where, she did not realize the history of Irish swimmers competing for the University of Tennessee. Universities began reaching out to McSharry after she captured gold in the 100 breaststroke at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Indianapolis, and about one year later, she took an official visit to Knoxville.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s really kind, and it\u2019s a nice team to be on, and Knoxville is a really beautiful place. The coaches really care. I think that\u2019s all stuff that anyone would look for in a team, and it\u2019s a really competitive team,\u201d McSharry said. \u201cBut it\u2019s kind of funny, I didn\u2019t realize until I committed here that Andrew Bree<\/strong> and Barry Murphy<\/strong> had also gone here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy had been a top Irish backstroker competing on the world stage for many years, while Bree was a two-time Olympian in the breaststroke events and a semifinalist in the 200 breast at the 2008 Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"KNOXVILLE,

Ellen Walshe — Photo Courtesy: Andrew Ferguson\/Tennessee Athletics<\/p><\/div>\n

McSharry arrived at Tennessee in the fall of 2020, and one year later, another standout from Ireland joined her. Ellen Walshe<\/strong> had gone through the recruiting process after the COVID-19 pandemic had begun, so she had to rely on photos and word of mouth as she made her decision. She began speaking about Tennessee with Murphy, who frequently swam at the same pool Walshe did. \u201cSo I was actually talking to him nearly every day during the situation,\u201d Walshe said. \u201cHe gave such things you wouldn\u2019t even think about. It was really nice, and I was just like, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s probably the place for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When McSharry and Walshe arrived on campus, both were so swept up in the hustle and bustle of college life and being part of an NCAA swim team that at first, neither missed home too much, despite being more than 3000 miles and an ocean away (although both would feel homesick later on). Both had to adjust to the \u201cmind-blowing\u201d depth in American racing, while the switch to short course yards racing only affected Walshe, who sometimes races backstroke.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely a few crashes into the wall here and there on the backstroke. There were definitely a few stubbed nails,\u201d Walshe said. McSharry added, \u201cI thought it would be harder to adjust than it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both swimmers committed to the Volunteers as solid but not yet established performers on the world stage. Now, with McSharry only 21 years old and Walshe just 20, the two have already become the most successful Irish female swimmers in the 21st century.<\/p>\n

\n

Olympic Debuts<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In April 2021, McSharry swam under 1:07 for the first time in the long course 100-meter breaststroke to secure a spot on Ireland\u2019s Olympic team<\/a>. At the time, Walshe did not qualify, but at a meet in late June, just before the Olympic qualifying period closed, Walshe beat her best time in the 200 IM by three seconds to eclipse the FINA \u201cA\u201d cut in the event. Walshe had to wait through a frustrating a few days before she learned that Swim Ireland would indeed send her to Tokyo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely a shock to qualify. It wasn\u2019t the most celebrated experience of my life when it happened,\u201d Walshe said. \u201cIt was a lot of being patient and waiting to see what the decision was going to be, which is hard to have fans and supporters communicating with you and trying to find out information. The media chasing you, I wasn\u2019t used to anything like that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But of the Olympic experience itself, Walshe said, \u201cwe had a ball.\u201d Walshe swam the 100 butterfly on the first evening of the Games and finished 24th, and one day later, McSharry crushed her 100 breast best time by another half-second to finish ninth in prelims. The following morning, she placed eighth in the semifinals, beating out Australia\u2019s Chelsea<\/strong> Hodges<\/strong> by one hundredth to qualify for the Olympic final.<\/p>\n

\"Mona

Mona McSharry on her way to qualifying for the 2021 Olympics — Photo Courtesy: Swim Ireland<\/p><\/div>\n

That performance was historic: McSharry became just the second female swimmer from Ireland to ever qualify for an Olympic final, and the first since Michelle Smith won four medals at the 1996 Olympics (performances later clouded by rumors of performance-enhancing drug use). McSharry was only the third Irish swimmer, male or female, to even advance to the Olympic semifinals (joining Bree and Shane<\/strong> Ryan<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

McSharry was asked about the experience of walking out for and then swimming in an Olympic final, but before she could answer, Walshe interrupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait, I want to talk first. I felt so sick,\u201d Walshe said, as McSharry started laughing. \u201cI can\u2019t watch Mona race anymore. It makes me feel so sick. I know I wasn\u2019t in the final but going through as being a supporter and having her back through the whole thing, you really get invested in each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

McSharry, on the other hand, felt relaxed throughout the experience. \u201cSo Ellen took all the sickness, and I actually felt great. I think the semifinal was pretty stressful for me because we knew it was going to be tight to make the final, and then once I made the final, I was like, \u2018OK, well this is more than I could have asked for. I\u2019m just going to get out there and race,\u2019\u201d McSharry said. \u201cI went to the call room, and everyone looks so stressed, and I was just like, \u2018I have so many stressful races ahead of me,\u2019 so I was like, \u2018I\u2019m just going to relax and enjoy this and soak it up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

College Swimming Success<\/h3>\n

As a freshman for the Volunteers in 2021, McSharry placed fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke and third in the 200 breast at the NCAA Championships. In both races, she would finish behind winner Sophie Hansson<\/strong>, the Swedish breaststroker representing NC State, and the two would find themselves racing in almost every major final over the course of the year, including the European Championships, Olympics and Short Course World Championships.<\/p>\n

Tennessee had only three individual top-eight finishes at the meet, and McSharry accounted for two of those (while Kristen Stege had the other with a fourth-place finish in the 1650 free).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the 200 was probably the highlight for me at NCAAs because that\u2019s an event that I want to love and I\u2019m not there yet,\u201d McSharry said. \u201cIt\u2019s so painful, but it\u2019s really fun when you swim it right, and I\u2019m trying to work on that. Swimming it right there and being able to just experience that and enjoy that so much, I think that\u2019s probably one of my biggest highlights.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Walshe, meanwhile, did not even have to wait until the NCAA Championships to get her college career off to a blistering start. After only a few months in Tennessee, she swam the fastest time in the country in the 100-yard fly at the Tennessee Invitational<\/a>, six hundredths faster than Torri Huske (the fourth-place finisher at the Olympics in the 100-meter fly) had swum the same night.<\/p>\n

After all the midseason invitationals, Walshe ended up with the No. 2 time nationally in the 100 fly at 50.24, trailing only Olympic gold medalist Maggie Mac Neil<\/strong>, and she also ranked fifth in the 200 IM, sixth in the 400 IM and seventh in the 200 fly. McSharry, meanwhile, posted the nation\u2019s fastest 100 breaststroke time at 57.46, and she also ranked seventh nationally in the 200 breast.<\/p>\n

\n

Making History for Ireland<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Finally, the Ireland-Tennessee duo finished out the year at the Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi, and on night one, Walshe delivered the first international statement swim of her career as she grabbed a silver medal in the 400 IM. The only swimmer to finish ahead of her was Canada\u2019s Tessa<\/strong> Cieplucha<\/strong>, a Tennessee graduate who still trained in Knoxville.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really special. I hadn\u2019t trained a lot with Tess because she was in ISL, but I did know her from the Olympics, and I knew she trained here,\u201d Walshe said. \u201cObviously, when we hit the wall, it was really nice, to get on the podium with Tess was really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

After beginning 2021 off the international radar, Walshe had finished the year by cementing herself as a rising star in the IM and butterfly events, a status she hopes to validate in the coming weeks at the SEC and NCAA Championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt probably started when I raced the heat before I qualified for the Olympics,\u201d Walshe said. \u201cI always sit in my bed with my earphones in, listening to music, and then I\u2019d be like, \u2018Imagine if I qualified. Ha ha, as if.\u2019 And then it happened, and I was just like, \u2018What\u2019s different between that race and every other race?\u2019 And to be honest, it was just believing in myself. \u2018You\u2019ve trained so hard, and you\u2019ve got this.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cMainly for me, it\u2019s just telling myself, \u2018You can do this. You\u2019re well able to do this.\u2019 No, it\u2019s not easy to go to the back of the block and be like, \u2018You can do this.\u2019 I think it clicked in the 400 IM at Worlds.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"CIEPLUCHA

Ellen Walshe (right) with Tessa Cieplucha after the women\u2019s 400 IM final at the Short Course World Championships — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

Four days after Walshe\u2019s medal-winning breakthrough, McSharry earned her first senior-level international medal with a bronze in the 100 breaststroke \u2014 finishing right behind, of course, Hansson. That gave Ireland two medals for the meet after the nation had won just a single medal in all previous Short Course World Championships combined.<\/p>\n

Now, the focus has become this week’s NCAA Championships, where the two Irish stars will be the go-to swimmers for Tennessee<\/a>. Individually, both McSharry and Walshe will be favored for top-three finishes at the national meet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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