we'd better be paying the coach top dollar!! We have come a long way in a sport once dominated by the sips.

While they will always have a top program.... we are right up there with them!!

THE GIRLS ARE BIG XII CHAMPS!!!!!

What an incredible show the A&M girls put on. Congratulations!

The girls were completely dominant. The score really doesn't reflect how strong the Aggie girls are. We won all but one event!

Wilkinson, Heiss, Atkinson, Aljan, Neal, etc. swam extremely well as expected. I was impressed with some of the younger swimmers too. Looks like many of them swam best times, and are positioned to be Big12 finalists in the coming years.

The relay performances were outstanding too. The margin of victory in all the relays but the 200 free was huge. Texas is far off the Aggies right now but it will change significantly next year with their A++ recruiting class. I'm impressed with the Big12 overall. Missouri and Kansas are both fast and have some very good swimmers.

The men swam well with some very good times but Texas swamped us with their freestyle depth. Texas is staggeringly fast in freestyle, especially the 200. Most Div 1 teams have 1 or 2 guys that can go faster than 1:35. Texas may have 8! Texas has at least 7 guys faster in the 500 than us. We are just not very good at distance events. Ozzie was awesome. I wish he weren't a senior. Strange was excellent and his times must be breakthroughs for him. Jacobo was excellent as usual but he's a senior. Denisyako looks like the backstroker we've needed for some time. I was really impressed with Bergstrom, Chambless, and Loncaric. Welch and Duckworth swam some very good times too. I've seen both of the last two swim in high school and they are much faster now.

I think this shows Jay's program works. We have very good breaststrokers, sprinters, and relays. We just need some star 200 freestylers.

Luke Chambless and Bryan Snowden worked hard on that 200 Breast finish. Might have all but secured second place!

Jay just has to keep on working hard and build this team. He is doing an awesome job.

Great effort guys!

Any info on swims at the American short course championships being held today (Sunday)? Anyone know of a link to find results?

Sprintermike - I don't see a meet like that anywhere. Longhorn Aquatics is hosting the All American LONG course championships next weekend.

Sectionals finishes up tonight in CS. Results at www.texasseniorcircuitswimming.org.

Look on the mens website for schedule...the hosting pool always has a meet on Sunday for people who DQ'ed or just missed their cuts. Thie year it was called the american short course championships.

those 200 breastrokes did help seal 2nd, but one of the most overlooked swims that helped were Welch and Natyzak 200Flys. those guys edged a Mizzou dude from the A final, which is a big difference in points that the Ags were not planning on having going in.

oh and Spice, Loncaric did almost nothing at the meet...how were you "impressed"?

[This message has been edited by BigPapaB (edited 3/2/2008 11:16p).]

nothing super impressive from Sectionals...most of the ridiculously fast swimming was done at state...although 50.4 LCM 100Free is smokin for Ag Balazs Makany...cant wait till hes eligible next year

BigPapa - you're right about Loncaric. I think I meant Bergstrom.

As for Sectionals - I agree most swimmers were off a bit because they picked for high school meets. But some - like Neil Caskey, Matt Thompson, and Max Murphy, were very good. Quite a few Olympic trials cuts. Cole Cragin, the 4A backstroke winner, got his trials cut and he's only 16.

excellent point about the 200 Fly ...outstanding performance by Welch and Natyzak!

I've seen Welch swim since he was a summer league swimmer. Great kid and has always been able to swim endless fly. He started at A&M as a walkon.

Started as a walk-on? I love it!

check out the Holmes interview:

http://www.flocasts.org/floswimming/coverage.php?c=197&id=10044

This one is even better:

http://www.flocasts.org/floswimming/coverage.php?c=197&id=10046

How about Maria Sommer on the girls side? A 24.1 Ag Swim Club member to a 22.7 big time baller in less than a year...all I can say is WOW

Walked on? Right? Great story! I have some friends from Brenham that are fired up about her results.

while were on the subject of current/former walkons who had great meets, lets go ahead and throw in Casey Strange to that equation, as well as Bryan Snowden

Casey Strange was not a walkon. He was a 5A state champion in the 50 free in 2006.

Don't know about Snowden. I agree Snowden had some good swims this weekend.

Casey Strange most certainly WAS a walkon. Being a state champion from the state of Texas does not automatically warrant any scholarship money from either A&M or texas. a few years ago, John Patterson won state, and took books to swim at texas, where he became one of their top backstrokers, and imers. I think it was mentioned last year on one of these boards about Eric Olesen, who was a 5(ish)-time state champ, and was offered books to A&M, and thats what Brad Raiford took to come here a few years ago as well.

Casey Strange came in as a walkon, but I wouldnt be surprised if he has earned some money since then (maybe books, since thats all most in state guys get)

Hmmmm....I met Casey's parents last year at Sectionals and I believe they said Casey turned down better offers elsewhere to take "less" at A&M. But if you are closer to the situation than me I accept your version.

I understand state champs don't always get a partial - but Casey was fast then and is clearly getting faster. He certainly deserves some scholarship money.

My people in the know told me that Strange, Snowden, Bergstrom, Holland, Raiford, and Chambless were all walk-ons...

If the Ags can help make those guys as great as they are now, can you imagine how good some of the top-tier recruits could be if they came here?

and yes, Sommer was absolutely a walk-on...people in Brenham SHOULD be fired up about what she's done...that kind of immediate and vast improvement is almost unheard of

Kyle Holland (48, 1:48 in the back & 1:49 in the IM) and Luke Chambless (54, 2:00 in the breast & 20.2 in the 50 free) also had outstanding swims for being recruited as walkons.

[This message has been edited by 5-Doubt (edited 3/4/2008 12:14p).]

So then who is getting the scholarship money if half of your 200 and 400 free relays aren't on scholarship???

I guess the money is going to our non-American team members?

I'm glad they are here because they are fast. We have a history of Canadians on this team.

But it would be nice to get some Texans like Jonathan Jackson, Neil Caskey, or Jimmy Feigen. We should be recruiting Cole Cragin of Friendswood now. And Matt Thompson, Max Murphy, Dax Hill, etc.

'were all walk-ons'...I guess some still could be...the foreign kids don't come cheap though...

I don't know the exact breakdown, but I believe the men's swim team has something along the lines of total 24 roster spots and 5-8 full scholarships to divide between the team. I don't know how in-state vs. out of state tuition affects the equation, but common sense would tell you that the foreigners are going to need more incentive to uproot.

How does that work? The kids from outside our borders can get more benefits?

I think the "less" you are referring to spice would be the difference between nearly a full ride at a place like tcu, as compared to walking on here.

LOB is correct, I have also heard that all of those in state guys were/are/started as walkons.

Men's Swimming had 7.9 scholarships (not including diving, they have 2). a full scholarship is designated as everything fully paid for, regardless of the actual dollar cost. Its not like there is a designated dollar amount to divy up, its set by the number of full scholarships. Since tuition and such is cheaper for kids instate, giving the out of state/foreign guys scholarships gets the team "more bang for their buck" to put it loosely. Obviously a foreign athlete is going to need more incentive to leave his home country to come to a completely different culture/lifestyle in America, than would a texas high schooler, who has grown up as an aggie/(horn). So its not so much that the foreign kids get more benefits, but by giving them a "full scholarship" the kid/family saves much more money than an instate kid/family would, since the out of state/country tuition is much much more.

and we cant start recruiting kids till July 1 before their Senior year in h.s (cragin = soph, thompson = jr, dax hill = jr, etc)...that being said, i would hope that Holmes would be waiting by the phone at 11:59PM on June 30 to give Matt Thompson a call this summer

[This message has been edited by texagg09 (edited 3/4/2008 3:35p).]

The men get 9.9 full scholarships to divide up...the cost of in-state vs. out-of-state has no bearing...the athletic dept. pays it regardless of where they are from...Is it cheaper for the ath. dept. to have U.S. kids? of course...but the coaches are paid to win, not get U.S. kids...

LOB - sad, but true

Yeah I knew about the 9.9 scholarships. Almost all sports other than football and baseball give partial scholarships. Tyler Welch is a family friend so we knew about his situation.

BTW - Cragin is a junior. He got his Olympic Trials cut in 100 back at Sectionals. Cragin split 22.79 in 50 back in the 200 medley relay. His walls/underwaters are fantastic. He set the 4A back record in prelims then crushed it again in finals.

Re: July 1.

Mary Beck gave a "verbal" to Texas just a few weeks ago. She is a junior now. How can she do that without contacting Kim Brackin?

Beck can contact Brackin (I believe but don't hold me to that) but not the other way around...she is swimming for Longhorn as well, if I'm not mistaken so I'm sure they see each other all the time...she's the first Longhorn Aquatics girl they've gotten in a while if I'm not mistaken...