Aggie men are swimming - I was surprised to see them in this meet. I don't remember them doing this meet in the past. But maybe I just forgot.

We can probably preview some of the best women's times in this meet since AZ, Stanford, USC, etc. are swimming.

Live Results

So far I see good women's 100 fly times for UT, not at all good in the 500 free.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 12/1/2011 11:12a).]

Yeah, the men haven't swam this meet any time recently that I'm aware of.

I'm confused why Gingrich didn't swim the 500...it's not like there are a wealth of events today that she's good at.

Heck of a swim out of the UNLV girl in that 100 fly too.

Good call LOB on the girl from UNLV. She was a huge signing for them in the first place...and is swimming really well. Their men's team has developed really well, good to see the women doing the same.

Cody Roberts' (UNLV Men) 46.0 is none-too-shabby either.

Our guys don't seem to have their 'A' game today. Not one guy in the top 24 of the 50 free.

Maybe Gingrich is swimming through this meet?

i had the exact opposite thoughts, spice.

the 50 frees this morning were 20.4, 20.5, 20.6 and 20.7. through december 30th last year, the best 50s they had were 20.7, 21.2, 21.2, 21.2.

comparing each guy to himself last season, we're looking at
dalton 20.49 vs 21.55 (best before b12s)
troskot 20.54 vs 20.79 (best before Dec 4th)
fonua 20.60 vs n/a (he didn't swim until b12s)
lindau 20.75 vs 20.52 (on 2/4 at texas dual)

i for one, am pumped about our relay potential.

and besides, when have the men brought an A game to anything but b12s? there is too much diversity in preparation for this meet to say that the sprinters are off because they didn't finish in the top xx.

Apocolyptus - Maybe so.

But for no good reason at all I thought maybe we chose to swim this meet to swim really fast - like the other teams do.

BTW - where is Enriquez?

true. i suppose if that was the intent of going there, we could have expected faster.

i'll make myself feel better believing the season plan is the same as last year.

The other teams -- particularly AZ and Texas -- can use this meet to get their cuts and are able to swim through conference. We cannot.

I agree with AP that the game plan is the same as it is every year and I'm also encouraged by being a little faster than this time last year. The fact that the invite just happens to be in Austin this year is semantics, not some sea change in philosophy.

OK. Same plan as usual.

Where is Enriquez?

Just a hunch but I don't think you'll see Enriquez this year

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the game plan is the same as it is every year

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So I guess we will finish somewhere between 10-15 at NCAAs like we do every year!

[This message has been edited by Aggie-matic (edited 12/1/2011 7:52p).]

Which will still be better than:
-both cross country teams
-soccer
-football
-jury still out on volleyball

...and those are just the fall sports.

LOB, I know you are right. But it is way worse than women's basketball. It sucked, maybe more than any other sport at A&M for a very long time. And look at it now. Oh and it is worse than women's swimming.

FWIW - Aggie women 400 medley relay in Tennessee (3:35.74) was faster than Texas' women's time (3:36.37) last night. Sogar's split (1:00.44) was unimpressive.

On the other hand, USC's Kasey Carlson split 57.84 in the breaststroke leg. That is a huge swim.

Arizona and USC both earned A cuts for that relay.

Carlson swims 58.69 in prelims, .01 slower than Breeja in Tennessee. I think we know who will be racing to win at NCAAs.

Gingrich appears to not be racing anything. She didn't swim either 400 IM or 200 free today.

Arizona simply owns mens 100 breaststroke.

Aggie-Matic, what sport were you successful in?

Schweitzer and Frank both break 4:00 in the 400IM.
Good swim from Fonua today. 55.00 100 Breast.
Loncaric, Schweitzer and Dalton all break 1:40 in the 200 Free.
Top 100 Backs were Ariens 49.2 and Loncaric 50.9.

Anonymiss, I certainly wasn't much good at swimming. But I am a long time fan, going back to years when Nash was here. And I think our men's program is stuck in neutral. We are good. We aren't great. Lots of people here will defend the status quo as some kind of righteous thing.

Our mens 400 medley relay last night was beaten by Incarnate Word. Yeah they were rested and we weren't.

I don't know folks. I have a feeling, a sense, that many are wrong about the men's team, anyway. There is so much that is bubbling below the surface. Jay added a really good bunch of kids this year, adding to an already good team. It's pretty obvious that he's bringing them out in bits and pieces to test where they are in their training. I don't think he has had the entire team at any one event. Probably won't until Texas comes to A&M. These guys look pretty good. On the Wednesday before the UH meet, he gives them a really hard workout. Then they swim very good for the next 3 days, hurting all the way. Jay seems to be end of season type guy. I think they will be good, very good. Guess we'll see. Bests.

any chance the aggie men can get 5 relays called up?

200 free- dalton/lindau/troskot/fonua
400 free- dalton/lindau/troskot/loncaric
800 free- dalton/loncaric/schweitzer/ enriquez
200 medley- ariens/fonua/loncaric/ troskot
400 medley- ariens/fonua/loncaric/dalton or troskot

also thinking freshman luke shaw could sneak onto that 800

the guys swam faster than normal in the middle of the season at this invite, any chance they were wearing suits and got a few days of rest like the rest of those teams?

Don't see any way that they did, but I'm not positive. Also wouldn't rule out Wagner to make it back on that 800 Free Relay, looks like he had an amazing unrested meet. Overall the team looked better than one would think an A&M men's team would do in season. Jay Holmes has this team on the right track. Think this team will end the Big 12 era with a bang

last year's NCAA invite times:

200 MR: 1:26.11
400 MR: 3:10.25
200 FR: 1:18.28
400 FR: 2:52.76
800 FR: 6:23.23

Just as a reference. For a couple of those, we were the last team in, so qualifying probably means "be better than we were last year." If I had to guess, the majority of the relays in the 10-15 range (fighting for invite spots) are probably going to be a hair faster than they were last season, so it should take maybe a few tenths better than the above to get invited.

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 12/6/2011 4:04p).]

don't think dbcooper meant what you thought, blastoff.

based on where they are NOW, i would agree that all five relays have a chance at the end of the season.

i think the 400 FR is a given - the rest will have to be in the right place with the right time.

I also thought that dbcooper was asking if the relays would be good enough at the end of the year to be called up.

Sorry, my response was based off of favre's. I guess I misread what favre said as "I don't think they did times that will qualify." I see now that he was probably talking about suits. :-). Hopefully a good reference for everyone anyways for where the times need to be, no harm no foul. Edited with the perspective that it should take slightly faster times to get in this year.

That's the key to placing higher than they did last year - they had to force the medleys last year, and it didn't turn out well. If they can get the invites to put who they want on them at NCAA's, it should make a big impact.

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 12/6/2011 4:04p).]

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That's the key to placing higher than they did last year - they had to force the medleys last year, and it didn't turn out well. If they can get the invites to put who they want on them at NCAA's, it should make a big impact.

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They're definitely swimming well. Still, when the next CSCAA poll comes out, it's going to sting a little. Stay tuned...

Stupidest poll in college sports

Agreed, though some fans of this team still like to brag about it.

The good news is (as both pro-Holmes and Holmes-skeptical posters have pointed out), the men don't make a whole lot of offers until the spring, so not posting huge times in December and slipping in polls shouldn't make a big difference to our recruiting, as long as we do well at NCAA's (before the spring signing period opens).

The sport needs a poll. There's no other way to legitimize what goes on during the season to people who don't understand how the sport works (i.e. athletic administration and fans of the school). You can't spend an entire year basing how good your team is now off what happened over the course of three days nine months ago.

That said, there has only been one poll all fall and that needs to be fixed.

Next one is done, and should be out in the next few days.

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You can't spend an entire year basing how good your team is now off what happened over the course of three days nine months ago.

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Isn't that how we have all lived our lives as swimmers? You rate your self worth by your best times and you probably won't PR again until the next taper.

Oh what a life!!

To those that know swimming, you are correct. That wasn't the point I was trying to reinforce though. It was about trying to tell those that don't how good/'goodn't' we might be. The poll helps do that.

1 25th-place vote, so we're in the ARV category. Missouri is ranked way ahead of us, but they seemed to have tapered a couple of times early this year.

Anyone else besides me notice that Blastoff seems to be starting to "come around" to the way the men do things? Seems like less criticism and more acceptance from the Rocket-pal...I dig it fo sho! Welcome aboard Rocketman!

As everyone has said, this season will be no different than any other season (except for hopefully different end of season results of course!). Aggie-matic makes an interesting point, but I would argue that its not easy to make the leap from mediocrity to national champion. What Gary Blair has done has been a SIGNIFICANT achievement, and should not be discounted in ANY way. Since Jay took over the program, they have made steps in the right direction, having gone from a consistently top 25 program, to a consistently top 20 program, and now to a consistently top 15 program. They have had several years at each "level" before making the jump to the next. Has it been relatively slow going? Some might say so, and its hard to argue otherwise. Could you say they have been "stuck in a rut" for the past few years? Perhaps, but things are still looking positive for the present and future. The year the guys finish outside the top 15, you might see me a bit worried, but until then, I'll be extremely pleased with the consistent "mediocrity", as Aggie-matic put it. Which is ironic, because being one of the higher ranking sports in the Athletic Department as someone else pointed out, can hardly be considered "mediocre". Let's call it "significantly above average".

But I digress...men looking solid for this point in the season, and it makes me excited for taper time (which for the sprinters is only a few weeks away!!!)!!!

Gig 'Em!

*EDIT* - I realized Aggie-matic might not have used the term "mediorce", but it is the word I felt most appropriately described the less than subtle inner meaning of his posts...

[This message has been edited by BigPapaB (edited 12/8/2011 1:27p).]