Maverick was one of those longhorn guys that everyone expected to stay in austin, but surprised everyone when he committed to smu...kinda like scott spann and michigan.

I agree with Spice, I dont think smu necessarily out-recruits A&M in state (although they have a few times) but i think smu competes more with A&M recruiting wise internationally, since they are trying to bring in more foreign ppl also

Hey LOB - I believe that psych sheet shows the swimmers that ARE invited, right? Or does the invited section list all athletes that had B times? Don't think the latter because obviously McCullough would be on that list.

But the invitations are based on the names the coaches submit as their athletes. McCullough's 500 is just 1/2 second away from the A cut. But I think the NCAA has a complicated formula that limits the total number of athletes at the meet. Bultman is taking 12 based on the psych sheet.

I believe the NCAA pays the travel expenses of the athletes.

So maybe Bultman COULDN'T take McCullough without leaving someone else behind?

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 3/6/2008 3:55p).]

You are allowed to take up to 18 athletes to the meet...McCullough is not on the list because she has no A cut...It took the A cut to make the meet in every single event except the 100 back (2 B's), 1,650 (2 B's), 200 back (2 B's), 200 fly (3 B's) and 800 free relay (1 B)...Bultman is leaving no one behind...he'd take 18 if he had 18 swimmers with A cuts

That psych sheet floating around the web is the official and final invited list...the B times listed are people who made A times in other events

The NCAA does pay the travel expenses of the invited athletes

catlee - do you know why the guys who stayed home were ineligible? i know Makany has to sit out a year, but what about Loney, Zilberman, & Lavery? was it academics?

LOB - just so I understand - the names below the line (Invited) - are they racing in those events at NCAAs? It sounds like the answer is no. If so - why does the NCAA even include them on the psych sheet?

spice - unless im mistaken the ppl below the line are the swimmers who are at the meet because they have an A cut in another event, or are on a relay. once they are invited to the meet (Acut) they can swim all of there B cuts at the meet. an example of this would be Melissa Hain. She has the A cut in the 400im, but will swim the 500 Free at the meet since she has the Bcut in it, even though she was not "officially invited" for her 500 (which is why she is below the line). hope that clears it up for you a little, i know its kinda confusing.

LOB - you said earlier that Hansen is not going to the meet? She has her A cut in the 500, and was a big part on the 400 and 800 free relays, how could she not go to the meet?

Yes they are racing in those events...those people below the line made the meet in another event but they get the opportunity to compete since they had a 'B' cut...

For instance, Codie Hansen made it into the meet with an A cut in the 500 free, but now that she is in the meet she can swim two other events that she has a B cut in (likely the 100 and 200 freestyles)...make sense?

09, I meant Hansen was not listed on the 800 free relay pscyche sheet bcs she ranks No. 5 currently on the team...Bultman added up his 4 fastest 200 freestylers to get the fastest seed time possible...That does not mean those are the four that will swim it though...A&M's seed time for the meet is actually under the current school record...No one will know who swims that relay until the evening of March 21

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 3/6/2008 5:37p).]

LOB - looks like we read each others minds

and thanks for the clarification about hansen, i see what you meant

Finally - I understand. Thanks.

bigpapa- Blazas has to sit out this year because of some rule saying hes too old to be a freshmen or something. i dont quite understand it thats just what some of the girls told me. Loney is academically ineligible. i think he failed one too many classes last year which made him ineligible this year. My friends on the girls team say that Lavery was also academically ineligible. I have no clue about Gilad tho.

also i dont understand why they didnt put beth on the 800 free relay. I mean Erin mahoney has her 'a' cut which means she can swim everything. If bultman had put beth on the relay she could swim all her events and they could just switch her out for finals or something.

Thanks for the info catlee, and excellent point on Beth, that would make alot more sense, especially since the difference between beth and Mahoneys 200 times isnt really significant enough to hinder the preliminary placement of that relay.

One last question on the "invited" list... The description of the B cuts is consistent with how I understand it, but isn't there the possibility of a B cut getting someone into the meet if there is an event where there are few enough total entrants (A cuts plus B cuts that chose to swim the event with an A cut in another event)?

BTW - I don't know if you guys saw how Mahoney got her 200 free time. She swam a time trial at the Big12s. Christine Marshall also swam it - but it is very clear she swam it to pace the girls. Christine split the 100 @ 51.59, then eased off to finish in 2:05.

Teamwork at its best.

Another recent highlight: Tyler Welch is swimming in Austin this weekend at the Long Course Championships. In the 100 Fly B final Welch swam a 55.61, just two hundreths off the Olympic Trials time of 55.59. His improvement continues - a great swim by Tyler.

Wow! Congrats to Tyler. That is a great time.

H2OPolo - you are correct. If a swimmer does have a B cut, there is the possibility of getting invited to the meet. I think LOB said there were only 8ish Bcuts that made the meet on their own this year, which is VERY few compared to normal. SO many girls had A cuts this year, that all the spots were filled. I would venture to guess that the Men's meet will feature much fewer A cuts.

So close for Tyler!! thats gotta be such a bittersweet feeling for him to know that he was so close to the cut, but swam so fast and dropped so much time.

On the McCullough note, I heard that Beth was NOT rested for Conference, she was waiting for NCs to taper and swim her fastest. If this was the case why would steve not put her on the 8fr relay? especially if Mahoney tapered for Conference (i assume she did since she didnt have her A cut before, and she swam lights out at the meet) That sucks for Beth to be completely done with swimming her senior year, and she didnt even get to have a taper meet. Any thoughts? Catlee?

I don't get it either on the McCullough thing. Her times at Big12s didn't look like tapered times. Her season best 200 is about 1/2 second behind Mahoney's time at Big12s. If putting her on the 800 would have gotten her in with her B time 500 - why not?

Maybe Bultman just is making a difficult choice and believes Mahoney, also a senior, is a better decision?

well there are a couple of girls still training hard with the group thats going to ncs. beth, maria sommer, casey h-z-- i think thats it. I think they are taking maria as a alternate since she has one of the fastest 50 free times on the team. They are probably taking beth as well---but im not sure.


---according to the newest news, beth and maria are going to be relay alternates---

[This message has been edited by catlee81 (edited 3/7/2008 12:08p).]

oh and a thing about tyler welch---

the coolest thing about him is that he didnt start swimming til he was 15. And by that I mean like swimming at all-- no summer league or anything b4. His best friend basically forced him to swim cuz she wanted to start swimming. i think thats just amazing.

catlee81 - I know Tyler personally. He graduated from Lake Travis High School, where my kids attend. Your point is a good one but I know he started a bit earlier than that. He was a summer league swimmer at Lakepointe where my kids also swam. He started club swimming at West Austin, then moved to Texas Gold, probably before his senior year of high school. He swam for TXLA for a bit when that branch of Texas Gold folded. He swims at West Austin when he is back in Austin on breaks. I agree that Tyler didn't get serious about swimming till later than many.

He has always been able to swim fly, seemingly for endless distances. He finished 3rd at 4A state in 100 fly his senior year.

BTW - other 4A swimmers from that era: Jason Bergstrom, Sean Duckworth - are both on the A&M roster.

More on Welch....I just got a text message that Tyler time trialed 100 fly today and got his Trials cut! The results aren't online for time trials and I don't have a time.

But WAY TO GO TYLER!

re: the girls 800 free relay...guys read my earlier post...Bultman can put any one of the 14 girls going to the meet on that relay...no one will know until they stand behind the blocks for the race...he simply entered those four bcs they had the four fastest 200 free times for the season...he wanted the fastest seed time possible

the 800 free relay is a timed final at NC's and he probably didn't want to take any chances of someone time trialing it and bumping the Ags out of the fast heat...If A&M is in the fast heat, they have a shot at finishing as high as second behind Auburn however if they were in the B heat they would smoke everyone and have no one to race...

McCullough was not fully rested for Big 12's as has been surmised and yes it sucks she couldn't make the meet with a 4:45 500 free...as a comparison 4:47 made it last year...Bultman did what he did bcs I'm sure he thought she had a chance at not only making the meet but likely scoring in the 500 free...the fact that there are 280 A cuts in the meet was something no one could have even come close to predicting...if the number of A cuts were the same as last year, A&M would be taking a full team of 18 athletes to the meet this year

In a way the high number of A cuts really isn't a surprise. This entire season has seen crazy fast swimming all around. Multiple world records and American records set during non-taper meets like the Missouri Grand Prix. Katie Hoff, Kate Ziegler battling each other. Natalie Coughlin re-sets the 100 back record. Kirsty Coventry in 200 back. Jimmy Feigen in high school. These fast swims were occuring last fall and continue today.

It is a great time to be a swimming fan!

Tyler Welch swam a 55.34 100 fly today. He now has a ticket to the fastest swim meet in the world - USA Olympic Trials.

woah did anyone see christine marshalls time in the 2 free? she went a 2:00.83 ---came in third, kara lynn was first with a 2:00.40!

Yes - I did see that. Literally. I watched finals of the meet last night. Kara Lynn won out of lane 8. I doubt Christine or Rodriguez even saw her.

Bultman, Jay, and Doug were there.

Lots of good swims - including Hansen's 100 breast and the women's 100 back. Hayley McGregory set a world record in the 50M back as the leadoff of the TXLA medley relay.

I met Alejandro. He was in the stands with a woman (mother?) in his A&M warmups. Very friendly guy. His brother Alfredo finished 2nd to Hansen in the 100 breast and looked very good.

Looks like the men's team just got a WHOLE lot stronger at NC's after today's action in Austin:

Bergstrom 47.6 100 back (not bad for a walk-on huh?)
Denisyako 1:43 200 back

That will get the Ags medley relays to the meet as well with Duran, Jacobo, and likely Gardner there already

LOB - where are the results?

holy crud! thats awesome! gives the men MUCH more flexibility on all of their relays. too bad they dont have that 400 medley at the meet...

Should be on the Longhorn Aquatics or Texas web site I'm guessing...I heard about the swims through the grapevine...there is a story posted on the A&M site about it now too

the Ags will be able to swim that 400 medley bcs Jacobo and Duran have A cuts and one or both of Bergstrom and Nikita will get in as well Ozzie who should make it on the 200 free relay...I don't see any way how the Ags won't have 4 scorable relays at the meet

what i meant by they couldnt swim it, is since it got DQd, they dont have the B cut.

but i have been informed that they can do an "add up" where they add up everyones best times on the relay to qualify for the meet. So both medleys and the 2 & 4 free should be top 16, if not top 8...

How many from the men's team are going to NCAA's?

No one knows yet but more than likely:

Jacobo, Duran, Bergstrom, Nikita, and the 200 free relay (Ozzie, Raiford, Strange, Chambless)

That's a BIG improvement over just Duran last year...

LOB - official psych sheet is up and you are officially correct. 8 Aggie Men going to NCAAs

They will be able to swim all relays, and as you mentioned earlier, should score big points in both medleys and the 2&4Free relays

Top 15 finish perhaps?

Anything in the top 20-25 would be awesome considering how far the swimmers, as a group, have come on the national level in 12 months...With Sehn back next year and one or two new kids in the mix, along with hopefully Balazs and Lavery, the Ags might even be in contention for top 10 next year in College Station