Women's Swimming & Diving takes on Houston in a dual meet Tuesday, October 26 at 6pm in the Student Recreation Center Natatorium. Only dual meet before they take on tu on November 5th, also at the Rec Center.

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict a win for the Ags.

Houston has a pretty good breaststroker named Beccy Hillis, should be a nice challenge for our young breaststrokers. Ags probably will swim primaries in preparation for Texas (as the first intercollegiate meet of the season).

At any rate, should be a great diving competition!

BTW, noticed that (as predicted) both the men and women will be headed to Houston for the Cougar Classic this year.

The women are going to Georgia Tech according to the schedule.

Rumor is one of the breaststrokers REALLY stood out at the pentathlon (50's of stroke) 2 weeks ago. Looking forward to seeing what she does in a 100 today.

LOB - any news on how the new class (including transfers) is doing? Anyone likely to redshirt?

I haven't heard anything on redshirting. Looks like we'll find out on McElhaney tonight.

You will be pleasantly surprised with the new additions on both sides. Obviously won't know as much on the guys until later in the season but they have most definitely added impact players.

Based on what I've seen, this is Bultman's second-best recruiting class since he's been here (with his best being arguably the best of any school in the country this decade -- that group was just plain sick especially when you look at the history of the program prior to that).

I think the medley relays will really surprise you despite the loss of the big two. They will easily be in the same league as last year. My opinion is the free relays will sting a little with the losses but Ibanez was a nice and much-needed addition. I'm curious to see who the 3rd and 4th legs will be on those relays to step and fill the void. Diving (on both teams) and distance will both be wicked this year.

Looks like you're right about the girls, LOB. Saw that the guys added it to their schedule, and just sort of assumed the girls would be going since they went last year. Georgia Tech is a great facility though, that'll be a nice meet for them.

I think Ibanez is going to be the key on this team. Sommer also comes back in the free relays. I think the free relays will be ok.

Heller, the Oregon transfer, is going to be big for them too. I think if you include transfers (more specifically, if the transfers live up to their building) you're right that this could end up being the #2 or 3 class in school history. (Have to remember that last year's COLLEGE class included Heiss and Wilkinson, who were actually a part of the HS class from the year before, so it would be down to semantics about what you count as a class in terms of best in the nation this decade).

Texas is already swimming incredibly fast this year, Sogar was National SOTW last week. That lines up well for us to pull of a mild upset in February and take our 4th Big 12 title in 5 seasons ;-).

Is there a link for live results tonight? I know they have streaming video, but I really like times/splits!

Don't think so. Live results are always such a crap shoot anyways.

Agblastoff - Live Results are a no brainer and the Rec has done it time after time for Sectionals.

Once again I have to say the video feed was amateurish. The audio quality for the pump it up music was awful - distorted as hell. The sound when the music wasn't playing was fine. And the camera angle for diving was completely off. They also stretched the image to fit the screen - so everyone was short and fat.

Blastoff -- I was referring to the signing class of 2004-05: Wilkinson, Marshall, Aljand, Heiss, Hansen, Jasek. Those six alone get you top 5-10 at NCAA's. Getting them all in one signing class based on where A&M was in 2004-05 is completely mind-numbing. Two signing classes like that and you win NCAA's without even recruiting a soul the other two years.

Went to the meet. EXTREMELY impressed with McLaine (was never challenged and looked super strong 4:52/9:56), Larson (1:01/2:16 right out of the gate? Wow.), and -- surprise surprise -- McElhaney (already going 54 and beat Medrano in a 200 fly? Damn...). Thanks Kim! :-)

Jaele just missed the pool record on the one-meter -- and remember we've hosted NCAA's twice. Wow.

Really nice swims for Kinder and Sommer. Tess Simpson has absolutely kicked her game up a notch. Also, Meagan Hairston doesn't even look like the same swimmer as a year ago. She's gone from not even making the B team at conference to being an option on the sprint relays.

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 10/26/2010 11:06p).]

Wow. Great meet. Sommer already splitting 22.79 in the 50, Ibanez at a 23.1. Larson's 100 breaststroke 1:01.79. I was mostly surprised by how much depth we had.

No Camille Adams...anyone know what's up with that?

Some very nice swims in the meet. McElhaney's times were very good. Very impressed with Larson's times. Sogar's 2:10 200 is an oustanding 200 time so far but Larson is in Sogar's class for the 100.

FR Paige Miller out-split the rest in 50 fly in the medly.

I too noticed no Camille Adams. Where is she?

I am slightly disappointed in the 50 free times. Only one flat start < 24.

I think FR Lara Slesnick swam well in the 1000 and 500. Her 500 time, swum after her 1000, is 8 secs off her 4A state time last year.

She was on deck. I think she's rehabbing an injury she got prior to coming to A&M. Her sis wasn't too shabby last night either.

Totally agree on the depth. This has become a very strong conference level type of team. You're going to have to be a threat to make NCAA's to get on the scoring team at Big 12's.

Sogar swam fast but I think Larson is going to beat her at Big XII's this year.
Looking at how things are playing out, Brackin is resting her girls already. Nobody should be breaking school records in early October.

Brackin has shown so far that her teams do not swim well at end of season. Sogar's times were very good, as was Bispo's 1:46 200 free. The other times were fast but not super-fast.

I wonder if Brackin wanted to show fast times in the Fall recruiting season. The November signing date is coming up. "See how fast we swim at Texas!" Of course she is forgetting to say how much they suck in March.

Bingo.

I've heard this asserted other places (not just on this board). That A&M dual meet victory must look really nice the first week of November...too bad Steve doesn't push to get that meet moved until later in the season. Might give us a better chance at winning it. Maybe he gets more pleasure in March out of laughing all the way to the bank.

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 10/27/2010 2:20p).]

In dual meets, winning an event is at a hyper premium. Here's how the events stack up from a top 3 standpoint heading into next week through last night:

50 Free
Bispo TX 22.97
Sommer TA 23.08
B. Adams TX 23.22

100 Free
Bispo TX 49.66
Amundsen TX 50.55
Lopez TA 50.84

200 Free
Bispo TX 1:46.97
Kinder TA 1:49.49
Riefenstahl TX 1:49.55

500 Free
McLaine TA 4:52.50
Woods TX 4:55.78
Tucker TX 4:56.93

1000 Free
McLaine TA 9:56.04
Gingrich TX 9:59.22
Nelson TA 10:09.79

100 Back
Simpson TA 54.75
Moldenhauer TX 55.09
Guro TX 55.89

200 Back
Riefenstahl TX 1:58.44
Guro TX 2:00.15
L. King TA 2:01.39

100 Fly
Amundsen TX 54.95
McElhaney TA 54.99
Miller TA 55.15

200 Fly
Gingrich TX 1:58.10
McElhaney TA 1:59.40
Medrano TA 2:00.01

100 Breast
Sogar TX 1:00.97
Larson TA 1:01.79
B. Adams TX 1:02.38

200 Breast
Sogar TX 2:10.15
Larson TA 2:16.97
Dittmer TA 2:17.27

200 IM (Only A&M has swam it)
Henry 2:03.60
McElhaney 2:04.74
Dodds 2:05.47

400 IM (Only Texas has swam it)
Sogar 4:21.02
Gingrich 4:21.55
Hamilton 4:29.25

Diving
Got to think the Ags have the advantage here won both boards as far as the top spot goes.

All things considered we're a lot closer to them than I thought we would be. Their top two (Bispo, Sogar) are tough cookies but past that it's pretty even. Will be interesting to see what events Gingrich lands in; based on what's here, that could determine the outcome.

I think tu will beat us next week because of the scoring and freestyle relays. A meet where 2,3,4,5 etc can score more would help us because of our depth.

We might lose the dual meet - but still come back and beat them at Big 12s, just like last year.

BTW - LOB, thanks for the rankings. I just didn't have the time to do that.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 10/27/2010 4:38p).]

Great rankings LOB...I think they key (in the dual or at Big 12s) would be if Sommer and Lopez can neutralize Bispo.

Now here's the question. Texas has Indiana/Michigan tri meet this weekend. Michigan women aren't near what they used to be, though they still have a few stars. Indiana is a very good team. This seems like exactly the type of meet that Texas likes to win. Did Brackin outsmart herself by scheduling TOO many early blockbuster meets? I mean, if they were rested for Cal, and they rest this weekend, at what point does "resting" for the A&M meet become "never getting in shape"? Entirely possible they don't rest for the Indiana-Michigan meet this year, because it's not as flashy win for recruits (though Indiana could very well be a top 10 team this year, and beat Texas at NCAA's last season).

Anyone have any idea what the event list will be for the tu meet?

100s and 200s of the strokes?
200 medley relay and which free relays?
500 and the 1000?

Based on what I put above, I can see Brackin wanting to go short order of events with a 200 IM. It would eliminate the non-freestyle 100's of stroke (all of which it looks like we have the better shot at winning vs 200's). I can also see her wanting the 200 IM vs. the 400 (see: Henry, Sarah). I'd also see them wanting to do 400's on the relays.

I REALLY, REALLY hope Bultman pushes for the long order of events (like the Houston meet) and at least one 200 relay (preferably the free).

Looks like Texas is saving their second taper for our dual meet...they're still swimming well this weekend, but their times are much more reasonable for this time of year.

http://www.texassports.com/sports/w-swim/stats/2010-2011/texas-indiana-michigan.day1.html