Any news on how the team is doing right now?

I know that the SMU dual meet is the first home competition in November. Will this one be as good as last year?

It looks like the first meet is 10/29 - the "Southwest Collegiate Plunge" in Mansfield TX.

I haven't heard a thing how they are doing. I hope everyone on the roster is actually enrolled, healthy, and training.

It looks like the travel budget is tight. One swing through Florida for two invitationals.

As has been discussed before here ad nauseum, the men's squad prefers to stay at home in the comfortable environment of the student Rec Center Nat. With their huge dryland regiment, they prefer knowing what they're going to have access to in terms of equipment and all.

Definitely an interesting meet lineup this year for the guys. Fairly bare, as usual. Surprising that they'd use their 1 big road trip of the year on swimming such inferior competition, although Indian River is one of the best Juco's in the coutnry. Maybe they're going to swing by the ISHOF?

I assume each squad will add at least an invite or two onto what's currently on there. I'd be shocked, for example, if the women didn't swim a single invite this year. Maybe the newly renamed Phil Hansel invite down in Houston for the girls is still on tap. It's the same weekend the divers are going to GaTech, and the girls swam incredibly well there last year, so I wouldn't be surprised if they made that trip again. Even though UH doesn't have a boys squad, they usually field a men's half of the meet too. Would be a cheap trip for the guys to get another meet in if they wanted to; the up-and-coming UNLV men's squad was there last year.

Anyone know if the Big 12 Relays are still going to happen? Always thought that was a fun way to kick off the season.

[This message has been edited by gobluwolverine (edited 9/20/2010 12:52p).]

[This message has been edited by gobluwolverine (edited 9/21/2010 7:50a).]

I'd be shocked if both teams weren't at the Houston Invite again. Football has thrown a monkey wrench into their schedule for the second year in a row, and, quite frankly, it's cheaper to go to Houston than to use their own pool for a meet.

I'd imagine the women would do Big 12 Relays again. I see no reason why not. The men no longer do the BIg 12 Relays because they now do this Mansfield meet instead.

In other women's news, rumor out of Austin is Hersey has given up on Brackin at Texas. She is still listed on their roster however there have been recent reports that she has gone pro and is training with Eddie Reese. Also heard rumors that Gingrich didn't train this summer and others went home to their clubs instead of doing the summer in Austin...? Anybody know if any of this is true?

LOB - this is interesting. My Masters coach is somewhat close to the UT program and friends with some of their alumni (the male Olympians). He has very low regard for Brackin and thinks she is not considered a good coach by many. Obviously has been a superb recruiter. I have watched a few practices when Coventry was training with them and all seemed well - but who knows how it really is going?

I've heard similar things LOB. I had thought someone said that Hersey was going to stick in it for the sake of her teammates, but I dunno...If the new APP ever passes, I can't see her staying. I think Brackin's on a short leash this year...

Did the guys do the Houston invite last year?? I don't remember them being there, but I could be wrong. Last year's schedule hasn't been posted under the "history" yet...at any rate, I think it'd be a nice meet to add (although it is right after they get back from Fl, they might not want to interrupt training like that two weeks in a row.)

No Big XII relays for either the men or women this year... Which is fine. Although it is fun to test the rivalry waters early on in the season, a meet with mostly made up relays doesn't really forecast how the rest of the season is going to go.

Plus it is a tough day for girls who are unlucky enough to not be sprinters.

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I know that the SMU dual meet is the first home competition in November.

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thats odd, for as long as I can remember SMU has been in late January/early February...switchin things up this year

The reason the men dont do Big 12 relays anymore (since last year) is bc it saves all 3 teams a bunch of money to do this quad meet in mansfield. My understanding was that A&M & tu pay mizzou a small amount of money for them to travel down here, to save all schools the money of having to travel to iowa/kansas/nebraska. Throw SMU into the mix, and its not a bad meet to kick the season off

tcu has the mansfield meet on their schedule... is it 5 teams now?

dp

but i also noticed it doesn't mention missouri on the tcu site

[This message has been edited by apoColyPticus (edited 9/22/2010 10:31a).]

Missouri has a new coach...maybe he opted to pass on the meet? Adding TCU is a good pickup. It becomes basically like a big exhibition for the in-state recruits...would be great to have a big fan turnout there and get 'em to Aggieland.

Wow, that would shock me...Can't believe TCU would show up to swim A&M, Texas, et. al...The Frogs avoid standing on the same pool deck with A&M almost as much as Byrne does.

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avoid standing on the same pool deck with A&M almost as much as Byrne does

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LMFAO!!!!

Goblu - what is APP?

Oh boy...I think I can answer that one...I've written a ton about it in the past few weeks...

http://theswimmerscircle.com/?s=athlete+partnership+plan

It's pretty much been the biggest issue in USA-Swimming this summer. It's the plan that would increase NT swimmers' stipends from 21k to 42 or 50k. It was rejected once by the USOC (because it was a poor plan on first submission) but Wielgus (CEO) has stepped in and overruled Mark Schubert and they are submitting a revised plan that looks more likely to push through.

Blastoff - thanks. Is this related to Schubert's leave from USA-S?

While not explicitly stated, if you read that first article in the link I posted, Wielgus sent out a letter that...if you read between the lines...it sounds like it might have been.

There have been other things bandied about that Schubert is abusive, and was causing a lot of USA-Swimming staffers to quit because of the way he treated them, but Schubert's been around for a LONG time, and his intense persona is nothing new. There had to have been a precipitating incident that led to the suspension, and to me it seems like this was it.

Missouri has the Plunge on their schedule, how they are going to do 5 teams though, I'm not sure

'There had to have been a precipitating incident that led to the suspension'

Bingo.

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The Frogs avoid standing on the same pool deck with A&M almost as much as Byrne does.

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A&M and TCU? What is the story?

Unrelated ... we were in Knoxville this summer for some swimming. Liked it so we have been keeping up with what is going on and found this to be pretty awesome.

http://www.utsports.com/sports/m-swim/spec-rel/090910aac.html

Southwest Plunge will definitely be interesting with five teams instead of four.
They should think about putting together some more conferences to race each other. Big XII is a boring conference for Mens Swimming.

The Jan/Feb dual meet against SMU looked really exciting last year. I want to know how different it will be in Novemeber when the Ags aren't swimming as fast. How do the Mustangs swim around that time of year?

The SMU dual is actually December 4th, rather than in November. Still the first home meet though.

Last year, SMU "rested" and swam some very fast times at two meets: the Cougar Classic in November (like our women did) and the SMU Classic in the middle of January. Our dual is about 2 weeks after that UH invite, so they'll probably be a little more rested than we will be, but not by much.

They brought in a class that (on times) is probably at least equal to ours. Brought in a freestyler from Denmark who's a 43-mid (in a suit) and a 19.5 (in a suit), converted from LCM. SCM converted 200 of a 1:36. Another in state kid who in textile has gone 44.7/1:37.9 in the frees.

In other words, probably going to be another very tight meet.

And sorry, I wasn't at the mansfield meet last year. Why does a 5th team complicate things? Did they run it with 2 swimmers per event last year or something?

I mean, one would think Texas would be able to draw in another team from outside of the state, but other than maybe an LSU or Missouri, there's not many swim teams from Big 6 conferences located all that close to Dallas. Probably not worth the cost for most teams for just a season-kickoff type of invite.

there were two heats of each event, an "A" and a "B" heat, with two swimmers from each team in each heat. the A and B heats were scored in championship format.

Ahh gotcha. Thanks.

The story is they practically refuse to swim teams that beat them. Check out their dual meet record lately.

SMU rests in cycles. they look at the calendar once they schedule their meets, and they circle one meet every 6 weeks or so, and thats the one they rest for. the A&M dual meet always falls on the rest spot. Hence the usually fast swimming and suits (in the past) when the Ags and Mustangs dual it out.

Not trying to knock SMU, thats just how it goes. Our coaches have a very good/open relationship with Eddie (smu coach), and he flat out tells them thats how they do things.

[This message has been edited by texagg09 (edited 9/25/2010 10:58a).]