Gole brings title back

After finishing second at nationals last year for the first time in seven seasons, swimming head coach Mark Gole was approached by his three captains on the women's team with a new perspective on the season.

"They kind of talked to me about how, 'Well, the season's really long, and if we always focus on nationals, sometimes we lose sight of the little things that are necessary steps to that,'" he said.

Gole welcomed the idea. Instead of just concentrating on the championship, the team made goals for itself throughout the season.

"What we did this year to change it up was we really took each meet to meet, and we tried to get everybody as excited as possible for every single meet, and using that as preparation for gaming up when nationals rolls around," Gole said.

The strategy worked: The women's swimming team regained the title, finishing with 461.5 points to Drury University's 449, and the men placed 20th. In Gole's three-year tenure at Truman, the women never have finished lower than second and the men never outside of the top 20.

Gole was named the Div. II Coach of the Year by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America in 2008. He also won the award in 2006.

As far as getting to nationals, the women's team was strong throughout the season.

At the dual meet against Div. I Missouri State on Jan. 18, Truman won every event in a 77-18 victory - this coming after the team lost to the Bearcats by nine in their first dual meet.

"I could tell right there, and we even had a comparison from swimming against Drury, that Truman would be very good and have a chance at going back and winning the championship," said Jack Steck, Missouri State head swimming and diving coach.

The Bulldogs had 12 national qualifiers by the time the Miami University (Ohio) taper meet in December ended, and they picked up two more before nationals. Every swimmer came into nationals strongly. All 14 swimmers scored points for Truman, and they claimed two national championships, one in a relay and one individually.

It wasn't only the attitude that worked in Truman's favor, but the decisions Gole made.

He approached sophomore Kate Aherne a month before nationals and told her he wanted her to swim the 200-yard individual medley - an event in which she did not have much experience. He even went as far as telling her he thought she could win it.

They found out on the first day of nationals he was right.

Aherne took home the only individual national title for Truman in the event. The result didn't take away from her other events, either. On the same day as the individual medley, she took fifth in the 50-yard freestyle.

Gole also made some last-minute switches in relays, some that paid off and some that didn't. He said he hates taking swimmers out of relays because of his experience in college but that he always will make decisions in favor of faster swims.

"I'm a very competitive person," he said. "I hate to lose, even if it's a friendly video game, or a game of darts or tennis, whatever. Whatever I am playing, I want to win."

Even with all the awards, it could be Gole's work ethic that stands out the most.

"His passion for the sport is incredible," freshman Carina Pautz said. "He eats, breathes, swims - swimming. That's all he thinks about, that's all he does, every moment of his day."

The hours add up. Some days Gole will be at the pool before five in the morning and not get home until 10:30 at night. The weekends don't provide any breaks either - Gole will spend his Sundays writing workouts for the next week, which he can individualize for every swimmer.

"To think of how much he works to how much he gets paid - it would be scary," senior Emily Greenwood said. "... We know when we go to a race that we have trained harder than any other team in the country, and we owe it all to him."

After losing the title a year ago, Gole said he came into this season with less pressure on himself because the streak had been broken. After the 2006 season, Truman lost some of its best swimmers, and Drury was able to pick up some top recruits, which put added pressure on Gole to win.

Even though the Bulldogs approached the season with a different attitude this year, they were focused the entire time, no matter how good Drury's swimmers were. Steck said he noticed it before the season started while talking to Gole.

"He was talking about the disappointment of getting knocked off by Drury, and I could tell right then he was focused," Steck said.

Gole will set high expectations for each swimmer, and he said he will blame himself first if the swimmer doesn't meet those expectations.

But if a swimmer isn't giving it their all, Gole will show it, and the swimmers all know it. It's just another thing that makes him the coach he is.

"If you're not giving 110 percent in practice, sometimes he won't talk to you if you didn't meet his expectations," Pautz said. "I mean, it makes us as swimmers, better people, better athletes, and it makes us winners."