Pretty solid match-up at the natatorium on Friday at 6...should be interesting to see how it goes down...

Probably not many exhibition swims at this meet!

Will the girls wear fast suits for this?

Man I have no idea.

Heard there were lots of coughs and sniffles going around the team the past few weeks, but if they're all feeling healthy I think they could pull off the "upset" if you can call it that.

Winning the diving events will be a HUGE help.

Winning the diving events is entirely possible.

This could be an incredibly close meet and one that should be great to watch.

Good luck Ags!

Can our freshmen make a difference?

Latone, Medrano ...who else?


Gig'em!

the girls won't wear "fast" suits at this time in the season. they'll save the fast suits for the big meets.

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the girls won't wear "fast" suits at this time in the season. they'll save the fast suits for the big meets.

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Why save them?

it's psychological theory. The more cards (shaving, tapering, fast suits etc) you can pull out for the big time (Big 12's, NCAA's), the more mental boost you get. it's like saving the best for the last.

[This message has been edited by WAaggie07 (edited 1/23/2009 2:08p).]

...likewise if the horns were stupid enough to show up in them, the less boost they would get at taper time, etc.

In swimming, all the programs that are worth a crap put their 'eggs' in two baskets, conference and NCAA's...every other meet is just a chance to get competition in while training for the two 'big' ones

Not entirely true. Many programs have a slight midseason taper before they really ramp up their holiday training (for our girls it was the Adamson), and they often where their fast suits in this meet. This gives swimmers a chance to make their NCAA cuts early in the season, and then they don't have to be concerned as much about getting cuts at Big XII's, and can aim only towards NCAA's at the end.

who went to the meet? I watched it on line...relays were incredible ...hated to see us lose but it looks like A&M will be very strong in the upcoming championship meets

Good point wolverine. Many schools taper for their fall invite.

I was at the meet. HUGE crowd. Great races by both teams. Texas recruited their ass off last year and it is paying off for them big time.

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 1/23/2009 10:59p).]

tu's freshman were the difference in the meet. Our being closely competitive with them is a thing of the past, barring a recruiting miracle.

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Texas recruited their ass off last year and it is paying off for them big time.

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Wait until you see the list of incoming Longhorn freshmen . . .



[This message has been edited by QuitetObserver (edited 1/24/2009 8:48a).]

Heading to CS now to check out our team.

[This message has been edited by CDub06 (edited 1/24/2009 9:55a).]

I tried to watch some of the meet on live streaming. Just too hard to stay in it. Who on earth operates the camera? The camera work is worse than what I see from hand held videos shot by soccer parents. Do everything slowly....moving it...zooming, etc.!

The tu freshman class is reminiscent of our freshman class in fall of 2005 (Hansen, Wilkinson, Heiss, Aljan). I think at this point Bispo and Hersey are truly impressive; Gingrich and Riefenstahl only slightly less.

It really hurt us to not have Wilkinson and Heiss. That hurt us in 100/200/500 freestyle, back, IM, and all the relays. Wilkinson on the backstroke leg of the 200 MR would have been a 1/2 second difference and a win. And Wilkinson on the 400 FR would have made a 1 sec difference and a win. I think Heiss might have won the 500, Wilkinson wins the 200IM, and might have won 100 back. Not sure Bispo can be beat right now in the 200 free. Heiss would win 200 back and the Ags would go 1-2 with Neal. The swing in points might have been enough for a win.

It looks like Marshall may have been a bit off last night. I don't think Jasek would typically outsplit Marshall in the 400 FR.

Interesting that the event list didn't include the 200 free relay. I think the Ags win that one with the current roster since Texas sprinting drops off after Chang.

Very nice 200 fly swim by Medrano. Neal's 200 back was great. Huge improvement in diving vs. last year.

I think the Ags can still win the conference although it won't be easy. We have better depth overall and should get some even better swims. I assume multiple relays can score points and that should help us.

Your observations are spot on Spicewood

Right on it, Spicewood.

They DO have a really sick freshman class coming in, but I think we would've won with Heiss and Wilkinson swimming.

The scoring system is so heavily weighted towards winning events, (9-4-3-2-1 for those who don't know) that even a few swimmers, if they are event winners, can make a huge difference.

[This message has been edited by gobluwolverine (edited 1/24/2009 8:29p).]

In the Big 12 Championship Meet will the scoring be different than a dual meet or just the fact that there will be more teams racing work out better for us? Sorry if this is a dumb question...just starting to figure all of this out!

The top 16 places score at the Big 12 meet vs. the top 5 in a dual meet (top 3 on relays)...However, the other four women's teams in the Big 12 are so non-competitive that the Big Championships has been pretty much a glorified A&M-Texas dual meet the past few years

To win a dual meet, all you need is one unbeatable swimmer at each stroke (4) and a top notch diver and you'll pretty much never lose...Those 5 kids would win you 10 individual events and a relay...It's practically impossible to win that many events (11) and lose a dual meet

At a conference meet, you use your 18 best people...How good the bottom half of your 18 are usually will determine whether you can win or lose at a conference meet...One other screwy thing about the 18 is that divers count as .5 out of the 18 while the swimmers count as 1...You get four solid divers to only count as two 'swimmers' and you stand a shot at beating a team that might have a better swimming portion of their team

Also, the scoring itself is not as heavilly weighted to winning. The top 16 score:
20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Which should help our women, though it will still be tough to repeat as Big XII Champs