The reigning national champs are at this invite and we grab six of the top eight spots in the first event? Damn!

Both McLaine (4:43.3) and surprise surprise Cammille Adams (4:44.3) both beat Elizabeth Beisel, who has arguably the top swimmer in the country so far this year, in prelims. Rest or not rest, prelims or no, beating someone like that in anything is worth hanging your hat on. Great start!

Great to see Adams back in the pool, and looking that strong to boot coming off of an injury!

Will be interested to see how they swim year's end. Young team, don't have to win championships this year, maybe they're resting more than they did in past years to build confidence? Either way, looks like they're going to be back to the top faster than anyone expected!

Live Results:
http://ramblinwreck.cstv.com/livestats/c-swim/

Wow was just looking through the results. Maybe even more exciting than the 500 (which we knew we'd be good in) was Ibanez busting out a 22.75 in the relay, and Megan Hairston going a 23.15. Nice to see our sprint group coming together!

Natalie = Cammille?

Some very good swims indeed. Why was Henry's 200IM exhibitioned? She was the only sub-2:00 time and the same time in finals would have won. Escobedo's 200IM, surely her lifetime best, was also X'd out.

Paige Miller swimming fly on the A medley instead of Chernoff. 53.4 vs. 53.96.

The girls are swimming very well.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 11/20/2010 8:44a).]

Seems as though the coaches are expecting to blow the competition out of the water. UF only appears to be swimming with a partial squad (albeit the better part of their partial squad), and so our depth will make the meet not even close?

Yes, Natalie = Cammile.

Henry was likely exhibitioned so she could step up and go for that 500 at night -- which she sure did. I'd imagine the coaches don't want everyone -- particularly the top dogs -- swimming two of everything all three days because they would rather see the girls go all out in the better of their night events. They do however want to see what they might do in a single swim in certain events though. You never know when a surprise might pop up.

We have pretty darn good depth at fly and back right now. I think we might have the deepest group of backstrokers in the country this year. We could really bloody up almost any conference meet in the country in the back with that group.

Not to belittle what we are doing (kicking *** and taking names), but the Gators are obviously not resting much for this. That said, it is nice to see that when we rest and they don't that we can clean their clocks though.

Nice times in prelims today. Larson is very close to an A cut in the 100 breast.

It looks like McElhany didn't make the trip.

One could make the argument that Larson is the top signee from this last class (and she wasn't even signed until the spring!).

With the loss of Alia (and most of the rest of our breaststrokers), this area was a HUGE need. Not only did we fill it but the possibility remains that there might literally be no drop off at all, especially as it pertains to medley relays. You simply can't replace NCAA champions no matter what school you're at but it seems Steve and Tracy appear to have come as close to possible to doing just that in the breaststroke. This girl is darn good.

Larson is shockingly fast in the 100. It seems likely she will be in the NCAA finals in that race. She may be just as fast as Sogar.

But I'm not sure (yet) she is a more significant signee than Henry. Henry will be in more events.

I am also very impressed with Paige Miller so far. Fastest 100 fly and back times to date.

Ibanez also damned impressive.

I disagree that Henry will be in more events (NCAA's I'm talking). I see them as fairly equal.

Larson will have two legit individual events and two relays. Henry will obviously have three individual events but may only be used in the 800 free relay. With those relays counting for double points, Larson's value seems to be more of a premium to me.

I'm not trying to say one is more important than the other. I'm giddy to have them both. It's just that relays are more how top 10 programs are built and in that respect I think Larson has an edge because she's a key cog in two.

Not trying to argue at all. I was thinking that Henry may find her way on two free relays since we are not very good at the 100s now.

Larson's 200 breast hasn't been awesome, just very good. Maybe that's coming too. I hope so!

...and on cue, Henry booyahs the school record in the 400 IM at 4:06.6. WOW.

Just saw Henry's IM pop up on the results sheet was wondering how close it was to the record...She was probably the most underrated recruit in the country because she hadn't done anything in a year and a half (knee injury). Amazing meet by the girls, and there's still a day to go.

Reiterating what LOB said, I'm excited as all hell to have them both. That being said, I don't know if Larson finals in the 200breast this year (though we might get a better idea of where she's at in that race tomorrow), whereas Henry could final in two, if not three, individuals. I've gotta believe that those extra individuals will score more points than Larson vs. the next best breaststroker would in the extra relay.

But either way, WOW do we look strong. If you haven't seen what's going on over at the Arena invite, Stanford is doing similar things.

We're not going to contend for an NCAA Championship this year (sprint free depth is so important), but this class looks like it could be on its way to challenging the accomplishments of either the Wilkinson class or the Atkinson class.

In addition to what we've talked about here, the depth in those sprints is definitely coming, as they've got a slew of freshmen and sophomores at 23 lows or 22 highs.

That 4:06 is an eye-popping time. WOW is an understatement.

Just took a quick look and just about everyone one of our times so far is noticably quicker than tu's season bests. Larson's 100 breast is almost 1 full second faster than Sogar's.

Larson ended up at 2:11 in the 200. As a point of reference, Alia didn't go under 2:14 until Big 12's of her freshman year (when she went 2:10.8). Larson's 1:00.03 is also faster than Alia was at any point in time until her senior season. It's still crazy to me that we've managed to follow up a breaststroker of Alia's caliber with another that by all appearances is just as good. The breast is such an important event in the medley because it's the leg that is in the water the longest. It's great to have a kid like this for a long time to come.

There were some redonkulous 400 IM's swum around the country this week. In addition to Sarah's 4:06, Stanford had a girl go 4:03.7 (!?!?) and another go 4:06.1. Hopefully this will give Sarah a little added motivation during the dog days of winter training. I have a feeling we've just seen a glimpse of what Ms. Henry is capable of. From what very little I've seen of her races, she looks to be a fighter. Can't wait til the spring to see what she does.

Medrano and Cammille both went under Medrano's old 200 fly record tonight too. Very impressive. The 1:54 by Tess in the 200 back wasn't anything to sneeze at either. She's really starting to blossom.

Nice to see Janie win the tower today too. She's capable of truly great things up there. The significance of what she and Jaele did this weekend shouldn't be understated. There were 3-4 All-Americans on other teams in that diving field this weekend. Very solid showing by both of them.

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 11/21/2010 10:02p).]

Maya DiRado and Andie Taylor-the two girls you mentioned from Stanford-are also freshmen. Wrap your melons around this one: The top four 400 IM'ers (DiRado, Taylor, Henry, Beisel) are all freshmen after this weekend. Of the only two swimmers who are likely to break up that party, one is a sophomore (Leverenz)and one is a junior (Hosszu). And by the time Hosszu leaves, Pelton should be in college. We've got many years of incredible 400 IM racing ahead of us. If you aren't a fan of this race already, learn to be one, because it's going to be awesome!