figured I'd get this started sooner rather than later...I think the Men leave either Tuesday or Wednesday? Meet starts Thursday

Should be interesting...8 swimmers going to the meet this year, no divers. kinda backwards from last year. The Ags will mostly be counting on their relays to score them the most points, and earn them a Top 20 finish for the umpteenth year in a row (some kinda record or something ;-D

I have modest expectations for the men at NCAAs. I think most of our guys were rested for Big12s but they had an extra week to prepare for NCAAs compared to the women. I think our relays have a good chance to score some points. Most of all I want our guys to perform well and show the national audience how Jay and Doug can develop swimmers at A&M.

I think it will be interesting to see how Texas swims after their subpar show last year. Can their 800 free relay do better than the American record they set during Big12s?

quote:

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I have modest expectations...

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there's a shocker.

Apoc - I'm not sure what you're getting at about my post. I don't mean anything negative.

I had high expectations of the women this year and last. Last year they probably didn't do as well as they hoped. This year they were superb.

What do you expect for the men?

I expect the men to surprise some people...they never truly rested all that much all season long until Big 12's...the last time Jay and Doug had a solid group at NCAA's, their guys for the most part swam season best times...no reason to think that won't happen again...I think they will finish between 20-25 in the standings which would be a big step up from a year ago when Sehn was scoring all the points

My "modest" means we're not going to be top 10. But we have 8 guys there who are pretty fast. They swam very well at Big12s. No reason they can't swim well again. I think Jay and Doug know how to coach these guys.

I agree with LOB. nobody is giving them enough credit, even their supporters... During the dual meet season, they never once broke off their training to "rest" at all for any dual meets/invitationals, as did many schools across the nation. That is one of the reasons they swam so fast at conference (and the week after). They have had almost exactly a month since Conference to build back up enough to rest again. The solid training all year long will help ALOT, especially from the sprinters.

My official predictions: I see the Ags scoring top 8 in the 200FrR and 400MR, and top 16 in the 400FrR and 200MR. Jacobo can be top 8 in both breasts, Duran top 8 in the 2Fly, Gardner/Strange at least top 16 (if not 8), Denisyako top 16 in 2bk, Bergstrom top 16 in 100bk. I'm gonna put them 16th in the nation. youve seen it sports fans...16th in the nation...8 swimmers, zero divers...16th

http://www.flocasts.org/floswimming/speakers.php?sid=879

texagg09 - You prediction seems possible. I will be very happy if you are correct!

In that interview Jacobo talks about how "bad" he felt at conference, but still managed to swim faster than he'd ever swam in his entire life. it will be interesting to see how he "feels" and NCs, and if he swims according to how he feels or not.

Duran on the other hand, was not fully rested for conference since he had already qualified for NCs, yet he still managed to swim very close to his best times. I bet he will surprise alot of people in the final heat of that 200 Fly.

Overall I agree with the predictions as stated above by texagg, but considering how far the swimmers have come this year (from having one athlete at the meet, and zero points from swimming last year), I would be extremely satisfied with a top 20 finish this year

Not sure what the point distribution has been the last few years at NCAA's. In the past, there has been a big drop off from 15-20 and again from 20-25.
If we final two relays, we should be on our way to a top 20 finish (assuming a few other points).
I'll have a find some old scores and look again.

ok, historically speaking, 50 points will get you an excellent shot at top 20.
In relays, an eighth place finish I think gets you 24 points, a 9th place finish gets you 18 points.
Two top 8 finishes in relays will get us at least 48 points.
To jump from 20th at NCAA's to 15th could be as few as 15 points, or as much as 40 points. So we could easily get 15th, but over that the points start to go in big jumps. Above 15th place, you need 15-20 points per spot to move up.
I think our guys should shoot for 15th as their ultimate goal, anything better than last year 19th would be good. Scoring in 3 or more relays would be good. Top 8 spot in more than 2 relays would be awesome.

Swim fast Ags!!!

http://ncaaswim.com/men08/

Ags 10th in prelims of the 200 free relay. Good swim - Ozzie goes sub 19 on his leg. Excellent swim.

Ozzie blazing! 19.49 in the 50 FR ...on to the final

Congrats to Ozzie...there have been some really great sprinters roll through here the last 8-9 years (Rose, Sullivant, etc.) but none have been able to get that record...that was a really big deal...not to mention being top 8!

Ozzie will score no less than 11 points. A 10th place 200 free relay will earn 16 points. Our 400 medley relays is 11th in prelims and if that stands will score 14 points.

We could finish the day with 41 points (or more).

Auburn's 400 MR did not make the A final.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 3/27/2008 3:59p).]

I think we were hoping to get that 200 fr relay into top 8. Hopefully everyone will step it up just a little and we can get 9th.
Ozzies individual swim was great. School record, top 8, at least 11 points.
I think the 400 med. relay is in a good place. As good or better than I had hoped for.
We could certainly end the day with over 40 points, or a lot less, I think over 35 points would be great!

Sehn scored 45 to get 19th for the Ags last year...looks like a top 15-20 finish in the making!

amazing swim for ozzie! to smash a 50 free record by almost 2 tenths is impressive. and that record was from 1998, Jerrod Kappler, nice.

The most impressive swim of the morning i think is that 400 Medley Relay. 3:10.18 is the school record by 2.5 secs. 4 great splits, and a great team swim.

even if they were expected to/hoped to get top 8 in those 2 relays, the Ags have to be happy with both of those relay swims. Its great to know that they are on track, and swimming fast. thats the best way to start off a meet, swimming fast!

It's interesting that Auburn is not off to a good start. I wonder if they will follow the women's team and underachieve?

They have zero A finalists in the 500, 200 IM, and the 400 MR.

My suspicion is that the team was hoping for a top 8 for the 200 fr relay, so we just missed it (but very close), and I think we overachieved with the 400 med.
overall, the morning bodes very well for us!

auburn not having anyone in the A final of 500fr 200im is not a big deal. If Auburn was planning on winning the meet, im pretty sure they were not relying a whole lot on their points in the 500fr & 200im. Granted, not getting that medley relay is a huge blow, but the majority of auburns points this weekend are going to come from freestyles/free relays, and the sprint events. not the 500 fr and 200 im.

I still think Zona will win though, with Texas a close second, Auburn 3rd, Cal/Stanford/Florida after that

I agree Auburn wasn't a 500 free team. But it is kind of amazing that they barely had one of the 16 fastest IMers.

at first glance i normally wouldnt completely disagree with that statement, but when you look at it more closely, the Auburn guy who tied for 16th dropped almost a half second from the time he swam at SECs, and their other 200imer dropped almost a second.

18pts right off the bat! WHOOP!

Nice job of winning consols! That's the way to start off the session!

...and holy **** Cielo at 18.47? Yikes!

...and then 18.52 in the final...wow that's fast

...nice job by ozzie getting A final points for the team...his last 25 was still right up there with the fastest guys (fourth-best)

Ags sitting in 11th after the 50

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 3/27/2008 9:53p).]

OK,
29 points after ozzies swim (way to do it in prelims, ozzie). go get 'em 400 Med. rel.
tomorrow, we should score the 200 med rel. and jacobo. Not sure if any of our backstrokers will make it...it will be close for them.

400 med relay gets 11th (3rd in consols), in a ridiculously fast consoles heat.
that is 12 more points, so 41 points! great job guys!

did you see israel's relay start? .02...that was close to disaster...

scary close...

but sittin at #12 after day one!

OUR 200 medley relay in the A finals tonight in 8th place. Terrific swim. Texas in 11th.

Jacobo's split was very fast. Ozzie under 19 again. Bergstrom 20.99 fly.

It doesn't look like jacobo made it back tonight, however, JASON did in the 100 back! That was a bonus.

Huge swim by the relay...should counter Jacobo not getting back in the breast...Bergstrom with another huge swim...can't go anywhere but up at that spot...

Nicely done Ags. Bummer for Jacobo, everyone else must have swam super fast in the breast for him to place that low. Good to see that Bergstrom is swimming fast again, and he and the Relay can only go up from their spots. Great morning