WHAT THE .....!!!!
David B. is a talented, consistent diver! .....when the dive judges gave him inflated scores during prelims, I did not mind, but this time THEY decided the outcome of the 3m competition!! Grant's last dive was herculean. David's last dive was excellent, but did not deserve superior marks.
David's name alone gave him the win.
Two hairy thumbs up to Grant (and his dad?) for putting on a happy face despite the rip-off.

Big Mak did a great job in the 200fr. Just waited too long to make his move.

Tremendous performances by Nel and Makany tonight. Balazs is Balazs. Tough as nails. Grant nailed his last dive (3.8DD) and by some accounts should have won the whole thing. At any rate, the 400 Free relay looks primed to roll. Hope the guys step it up one more time tomorrow.

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WHAT THE .....!!!!
David B. is a talented, consistent diver! .....when the dive judges gave him inflated scores during prelims, I did not mind, but this time THEY decided the outcome of the 3m competition!!

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Is this the first time you've ever watched diving?

Looks like a fight for 12th with Minnesota unless Tennessee can be caught:
10. Ohio State 97
Seeded for two top, one bottom and 400 FR is seeded 8th
11. Tennessee 92.5
One top, three bottom, 2 divers, 400 FR in the 20s
12. Georgia 79
Four top, one bottom, 400 FR is 15th
13. A&M 72.5
1 diver, 400 FR is 13th (Makany, Dalton and Fonua swimming individuals)
14. Minnesota 68
Two bottom, one diver, 400 FR is 9th
15. Louisville 59
Three bottom, 400 FR is 16th
16. UNC 53
One bottom, 400 FR is 12th
17. UNLV 49
Two bottom, 400 FR is 19th

All in all, a 12th-place finish would be about three places better than projected going into the meet.

[This message has been edited by Swam4UT (edited 3/25/2011 10:33p).]

agree on the diving, shame that it comes down to that. Eric Sehn always preached about that, how the judges give the Americans higher scores than the foreigners. wish there was a way to get away from that, but there really isnt. i guess it cost Eric a few big time titles, and Grant is feeling it too now. either way, HECK of a job tonight by Grant!

Balazs is such a freakin beast. another awesome swim for him. i dont know about you guys, but im ready to see that 400FrR rock and roll tomorrow to bring in some big boy points. to finish 12th with only 5 swimmers and 2 divers at the meet would be a tremendous accomplishment i think.

Awesome job by Grant! New school record and he now holds the top 2 scores in school history. He did have one pretty low DD dive (I believe one of only two dives below 3.0) which ultimately cost him. Scoring looked pretty fair to me, but when it comes down to half of a point by one judge on one dive, I guess it came down to the judges deciding it. But that's the peril of judged sports, isn't it? The judges tried to give the win to another foreign diver (Constantine Blaha) before he blew his last dive, so I'm not sure how much water the "foreigner" thing holds...

Boudia is going pro after this year. Blaha will be back. McCrory, who probably would've won this were it not for his shoulder injury, is rumored to be redshirting next season to train for the Olympics. Livingston had a poor competition, but should be better next season. Either way, Grant should line up extremely well to possibly win this next season.

He's really made a big move this year. In London, we could have TWO Aggies representing the program in Aquatics finals, after his bronze at the Commonwealth Games.

And WOW was that a great swim by Balazs! Had a killer 3rd 50 to be right in it!

Georgia is swimming well, we won't catch them, even with another A-final from Grant.

Minnesota has two great sprinters that should both score in the 100, maybe one in the A and one in the B. Gutesa made an A-final in the 100, and could score in the 200 as well.

Louisville has outswum all weekend. Almeida will be an A-finalists, and I think he'll be top 2. Their 400 free relay should be competitive in the B-final

UNLV is probably safely in the rear-view at this point. UNC's best day is day 3, and haven't lived up to their pre-season expectations, but have actually swum pretty well none the less. Kinderwater is top 8 in the mile, and Luchsinger and Wyher should also score. a DQ of about 12-14 points in the 200 free relay hurts them a lot right now.

It's going to be very tight for 13th-16th, though the Ags definitely have the inside track, especially with a diver.

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 3/26/2011 9:09a).]

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 3/26/2011 9:09a).]

Great job by Balazs and Dalton to get second swims in the 100 free. Cragin has to do a swim-off for 8th in the 200 back. Ouch.

[This message has been edited by TheSituation80 (edited 3/26/2011 12:43p).]

Great to see two in the B for the 100 freestyle! Hill was in the same situation for them last year.

Blastoff - All of Grant's dives are 3.0 or greater. His total DD of 20.2 was the highest in the competition (tied with Livingston), and 0.5 higher than Boudia. I think the greatest issue people saw was that Boudia flat out missed a dive for 4's, and Grant didn't miss anything. But as you said, it's a judged competition and the milk has already been spilled so no sense crying.

Great job this morning by Balazs and Dalton, now hopefully Grant can come through again and the relay can jump some people.

Minnesota Scratched 3 (including Richards) and failed to final the 4th (Curt Carlson, who B-finaled last year). That helps out cause A LOT!

MAN! 400 free relay sets school record, but finishes 9th. Minnesota 6th in the A-final. UNLV 16th. Georgia, Louisville don't final. UNC 13th Maybe we will sneak into that 12th place, that would be EPIC.

Looks like Grant is going to slip into the A Final on platform in 8th spot. Tremendous week for him.

Based on the morning session and diving, we're in position to likely catch Tennessee and possibly catch Ohio State.

Well there goes another season. Great swimming by all the Ags.

[This message has been edited by TheSituation80 (edited 3/26/2011 9:47p).]

Didn't come into this meet the way we wanted, but certainly came out of it above and beyond what we could've hoped. Balazs carried this team through and just barely nipped UNC, Minnesota, and Purdue. Swim of the meet has gotta be Balazs' 200. Only he graduates from this NCAA group, and hopefully we'll have many more there next year.

Can't sleep on it though. The country was young this year (aside from Cal, the champs), and all of those teams ahead of us, and many behind, will be back strong too. Job well-done in a rebuilding year, and let's keep that momentum going!

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Didn't come into this meet the way we wanted, but certainly came out of it above and beyond what we could've hoped.

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perfectly stated!

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I think the ags can squeak into the top 15 (especially with the divers), maybe a little higher, they just won't challenge the top 10 like in the past few years...

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*Ahem* Count It!! ;-)

Good call Aquabullet! Got a few breaks with other teams DQ'ing and such, but we had our own fair share of bad breaks this season-it all evens out in the end though!