Ann Marshall

Barbara Ann Marshall (born January 27, 1957) is an American former swimmer for the University of North Carolina, and a 1972 Munich Olympic 200-meter and 4x100-meter freestyle relay competitor. Notably in late August 1974, in a dual meet against American rival East Germany in Concord, California, Marshall swam on an American 4x100 meter freestyle relay team that set a world record in the event. Swimming again for Pine Crest in 1974, as a swimmer diverse in her stroke skills, she made the city's girl's competitive swimming honor roll for March 1974 with a 53.8 in the 100 freestyle, a winning 1:53.7 in the 200 freestyle, a winning 5:03.8 in the 500 freestyle, a 1:04 in the 100 butterfly, a 1:02.1 in the 100 backstroke, and as a member of a winning 400 freestyle relay. As a High School Senior, Marshall was a May 1975 All Broward County Swimmer in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle, and was also on a winning 400-yard freestyle relay team.

Her Broward All County first team times included a 1:51.1 for the 200-freestyle, and a 52.5 for the 100-freestyle. Her Pine Crest Coach Jack Nelson was a 1975 Broward County Coach of the Year. Her Pine Crest swim teammate Bonnie Brown was Broward County's 1975 Swimmer of the Year and would soon join her on North Carolina's swimming team in Marshall's second year. Like Marshall, Brown was an outstanding freestyle swimmer and would break the American record in the 100-meter freestyle in 1976.

College career As the first women's swimming scholarship athlete, from 1976 to 1980 she swam for the University of North Carolina varsity under 1976 Head Coach Jim Wood, and 1977-1980 Head Coach Frank Comfort, during a period when the women's team was exceptionally strong due to carefully targeted recruiting and the recent availability of scholarships for women's swimming.

1972 Munich Olympics Trials At the 1972 U.S. Olympic trials to be held in Munich, Marshall was considered a serious underdog. Though rated only 35th in America in the 200-meter freestyle, she managed to complete her final qualifying heat with the third fastest time among the many top American women who competed against her, qualifying her for the American Olympic team.

4x100-meter Olympic relay At only 15, in August 1972, Marshall represented the United States in the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. In Olympic competition, to qualify for the finals she swam as anchor in the fourth position in the preliminary heats for what would later be the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay, but did not receive a medal. Each country could have as many as six or seven swimmers designated as potential 4 x 100 meter relay participants, though only four would swim in a given heat. In the preliminary qualifying heat, Marshall swam as a substitute in the anchor position for designated relay swimmer Shirley Babashoff, a top performer, who would later be needed to swim in the final heat. In her career, Babashoff would capture nine Olympic medals with her combined participation in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. Though she swam well, Marshall later noted she was quite nervous during her preliminary heat, as she had to struggle to remove her warm up clothes, T-shirt, and sneakers only a few minutes before having to swim her fourth position anchor leg swim. She had not completely shed her warm-up clothes and sneakers and ascended the starting block until the third position relay swimmer was well in sight.

Individually, Marshall also competed in the women's 200-meter freestyle, and placed fourth in the event final with a time of 2:05.45.

4 x 100-meter relay world record At a high point in her swimming career on August 31, 1974, she swam on a world record breaking 4x100 free relay event in the 50-meter long course, in Concord, California with Kim Peyton, Kathy Heddy, and Shirley Babashoff, recording the record combined time of 3:51.99 before a crowd of 600 in a two-day dual meet between the American and East German women's teams in the Concord Community Pool. The new relay time broke the prior world record by around half a second. In a close match, the last swimmer on the East German women's relay team completed the relay only about two seconds slower than the last swimmer on the American women's relay team finishing with a combined team time of 3:53.91. Still somewhat diverse in her stroke skills, as she had been in high school, Marshall also placed fourth in the 200-meter backstroke with a 2:23.1.

After her swimming career, Marshall returned to Fort Lauderdale, and served as a client associate with Merrill Lynch. In 1988, she lived with her husband in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

Honors She was made a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) 50th Anniversary Team in 2002, inducted into the Broward County (Florida) Sports and North Carolina Swimming Halls of Fame. Her alma mater, Pine Crest School, named an award for female swimmers, The Ann Marshall Award, after her.