Heard some scuttlebutt that super soph Cannon Clifton has Aggie swim parents and is a lock for us. Is he the breakthrough recruit we've been waiting for?

Hard to say how a 15-year old will continue to develop (Maverick Smalley anyone?), but if so that would definitely be an in-state breakthrough, at the very least. 20.92 in the 50 as a freshman, 45.3 in the 100 at TISCA already this year...1:38.0 in the 200 at State...49.9 100 back...1:53 200 IM...

He's already almost as good or better in several events this year than he was last year...the kid would probably be on at least 1 of our NCAA relays this year. If he continues to improve, would probably be the best recruit in program history.

Never know what will happen though. Family lineage doesn't always seem to mean as much in swimming as other things. This kid will have every program in the country beating down his door. Our coaches can't expect to take him without a fight, regardless of his parents' allegiances.

Grey Umbach is a junior this year. What do you hear about schools recruiting him? I remember him as an 8 yr old swimming at Tags up at A&M and finishing 3rd in the 10&under 50 fly. He has been amazing but appeared to be somewhat off at Juniors a few weeks ago.

He looked pretty good at TISCA though...I haven't heard who he's considering though...I'm sure he's looking at the usual suspects. Texas, might follow Edwards to Stanford...Wouldn't be surprised if he at least took a visit to A&M officially or not; most top in-state recruits do.

Also heard Brackins has a great shot at Simone Manuel who was mentioned above. She is top 5 nationally in some of her events so no biggie that Quinn C is slower. Her club coach swam for Brackins and sent one of her swimmers to Brackins this year.

Not sure about the Smalley comparison. He was a NAG record holder as young as 10. I saw him swim as a 8th grader and my jaw dropped. I don't know if Clifton is quite that spectacular though I agree his times are very very good.

My opinion, and that's all it is, is that Smalley ran out of gas because he was overtrained at TXLA. Smalley also quit growing by the time he was a freshman.

Am I imagining it - or do most Woodlands elite swimmers leave the state? Are they more likely to choose a Stanford over Texas (or A&M) because of Stanford's quality?

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 12/30/2010 8:59a).]

Just my opinion, but I think a lot of Woodlands kids have upper middle class upbringings and possibly parents with professional/advanced degrees. While A&M and Texas provide very good educations, they are not Stanford. The coaches there don't have heavy ties to either school if I'm hearing correctly.

Exactly.

Continental: Simone is only 14. Do they start recruiting that early?

Think Continental hit that one on the head...

Have no idea how swim recruiting is done but just heard that Brackins has a good shot at Manuel due to her ties with club coach.

Continental - ok. Simone swims for First Colony. But I'm sure Bultman has ties to them also, since they've put out a lot of scholarships.

Both coaches probably have ties...would be curious if the coach's intimate knowledge of what's going on at Texas (assuming she knows...which I'd guess she has an idea) would actually lead her now to send her swimmers elsewhere...

Can't find the thread, but I thought someone had mentioned that the guys might have an international swimmer coming in midseason. Anyone heard any update on this?

Brazil just landed a monster sprinter coming in for the spring and it reminded me of the previous thread...maybe I'm hallucinating?

http://theswimmerscircle.com/blog/featured/auburn-grabs-top-young-brazilian-sprinter-chierighini-shakes-up-national-landscape/

First colony sent their best swimmer to Brackins this year, so I'm guessing the relationship is still strong. Never know though, anything can happen. Hopefully the blue chips see how well Sarah Henry will do.

I don't know if it is fair to say First Colony "sent" their best swimmer to Brackin. First Colony's next best swimmer, Maddie Locus, went to Georgia. Did FC "send" Maddie to Georgia?

Brackin is an outstanding recruiter. She signed a "6 star" this past fall - which might make up for losing Hersey.

There is an interesting article (actually two articles) the tu website about how fast the tu women are swimming. I read it as a direct attack on those that think Brackin can't coach. The article is pretty unusual because it details the times swum by the tu girls in every event and compares them to last year.

http://www.texassports.com/sports/w-swim/spec-rel/122110aaa.html

Forgot about Locus...she was actually probably their best swimmer. My only point with Manuel is that her coach was coached by brackin and there appears to be a strong relationship there. I doubt Manuel will be "sent" anywhere; she will likely have her pick...just that texas seems to have a strong "in" on this one.

And with Locus' parents being smart Aggies, no surprise that the fcst coach wasn't able to get her to texas.

Dp

[This message has been edited by ContinentalAg (edited 1/3/2011 12:31p).]

I saw that post on TexasSports.com too Spice...very peciluar indeed. I mean, they're throwing out a whole lot of information for a program that still hasn't publicly mentioned the divorce with Hersey.

Brackin IS an outstanding recruiter, and it's clear that she works very hard at it (such as an article like this). Eventually, however, she's going to stop being "Kim Brackin, the assistant for the National Championship Auburn Tigers," and have to become "Kim Brackin, the coach who gets top 3 recruiting classes at Texas and leads them to top ____ finishes at NCAA's". This year will be telling as to what number we can begin to fill in that blank with...

There is now a Doug Russell coaching at nitro...anyone know if this is THE Doug Russell?

It is THE Doug Russell (the last man to beat Spitz in 100M Fly). He is a great guy. He spoke at my son's high school team end of season banquet in 2010. Doug showed the original ABC clip of the 100M fly race in Mexico City narrated by Curt Cowdy. Very cool. I chatted with him for a bit before dinner.

My daughter has trained with FC a few times over the last few years & they seem to be going through coaches. Who knows, by the time Simone & other good FC swimmers are seniors, they may have new coaches!

Speaking of big names and First Colony coaches...how about Tim Hill at Team WHAT in Houston? Former Pac-10 coach of the year, former FC head coach for 5 years...how the heck did he end up at WHAT?

Maybe it's just a stepping stone to get back into Texas until a head coaching position opens up at a bigger program...(he was coaching in California for a few years).

Where did Russell coach prior to Nitro? Does he have a good rep as a coach? Just curious...seems like a nice pickup for nitro.

I don't know where Russell has been or what he has been doing before joining Nitro. For some reason I don't think he has been coaching anywhere. I think he is coaching at Nitro because it is something he just wants to do and it works for Nitro. Russell is not a featured coach - he is one of MANY assistants for Nitro.

I will tell though he is a nice guy. My son and I ran into him at our hotel in CS during Sectionals this spring. Nitro was in the same hotel. He recognized me and my son from the high school banquet and ran across the parking lot to say hello.

Didn't realize what a hot bed of recruits NITRO was. But is there a bigger place for recruits out of Houston then FLEET?

http://www.teamunify.com/SubTabGeneric.jsp?team=stsns&_stabid_=17530

http://www.teamunify.com/SubTabGeneric.jsp?team=gscfsc&_stabid_=19210

Fleet doesn't go very far back but those are both impressive

Correct, both very impressive lists. I'd say at this point, Fleet is probably more impressive, but NITRO is a relatively young team that is loaded in the youth ranks.

They're using an interesting model over there...they've got their own 50-meter facility (no sharing with the schools, albeit bare-bones), and they put their best coaches with the YOUNGER age groups, whereas most teams have their best/head coaches working with the senior groups. That guy that runs things over there is a little nuts (in a good way) and crazy energetic, and they're really building from the ground up.

Both great programs.

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They're using an interesting model over there...they've got their own 50-meter facility (no sharing with the schools, albeit bare-bones), and they put their best coaches with the YOUNGER age groups, whereas most teams have their best/head coaches working with the senior groups. That guy that runs things over there is a little nuts (in a good way) and crazy energetic, and they're really building from the ground up.

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I sure hope youre talking about NITRO there...

It has not taken Nitro long to become a force in Austin swimming. They are rapidly becoming a power in Texas. Nitro's rise at least partially contribute to the decline of TXLA.

AgBlastoff - you're right about how they do things a bit differently. They have a huge number of coaches, their own big indoor pool, and Mike runs it like a business. Their 2nd 50M pool is well underway in Bee Cave (I drive past it everyday) and should open before summer. They will now appeal to kids and families that can't drive out to BFE where the current pool is.

09-Yeah, I'm talking about Nitro.

Spice-He really has nailed things out there. It's only a matter of time before Mike is making the circuit on the USA-Swimming speaking tour on how to build a successful, stable, financially sound program.

Yep, Nitro does appear to be building it big!

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09-Yeah, I'm talking about Nitro.

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**sigh of relief**

I rather enjoy TXLA's slow decline. You see what Nitro is doing and TXLA has always done the opposite.

All Austin needs, but won't get, is another competition quality indoor pool to shake loose their exclusive on all the swim meets.

Yeah, I know that there were a lot of hurt feelings in Austin with the way Nitro did things at the beginning...but it is what it is.

They really do need another good indoor facility there...Even if it's not a 50 meter. There's gotta be enough money in that city to get it done. It's too bad that rather than building their second facility similarly to their first, Nitro didn't find a partner club (or school district) that would go in on them with it to make it a competition level place.