Thoughts?

Predictions?

Who will win the team title? Will there be another upset in the 50 free?

Any records going to fall?

Cal wins the team title, and it won't be close. Texas 2, Stanford 3.

Adrian's GOTTA win that 50 free. I don't see any way around it. I think he's got a better shot at the 100 record...it's going to come down to hundreths between him and Cielo's mark there.

Is the Minnesota pool known to be fast?

VERY fast. It's a deep pool, it has GREAT lighting, and it has seating on both sides that creates an awesome atmosphere. One of my favorite pools in the country to watch a meet at...If you've never been, get there for the next big meet (they host a ton).

I think the 50 record is too fast to be broken this year. Adrian is great, but so is/was Cielo.

Minnesota is def a fast pool. one of my favorites. Cal's depth is just ridiculous, but the battle after that should be a good one. hope the Ags can maybe squeak into a 15 spot? is that out of range? no medleys is gonna hurt, but those Free Relays have chances to score big points, and move up from there I think.

as usually diving is key for us, gonna be interesting to see what grant and cam can do. theyve been smashing records left and right all year, and those records werent set by any kinda chump diver or anything, so thats impressive.

Yeah, I gotta agree with the Cal prediction, it's impressive that they managed to build off of last year and now look ALMOST unstoppable, unless of course the judges DQ for fly kicks during breast ;-p...
Should be a GREAT competition behind them tho.

The pool is known to be a very fast one!

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...
I will say this tho, we can't afford any mistakes because that'll send us tumbling quickly....

If Balazs and Dalton stay on form, I think we should/might see a few individual points from them :-)

My list of "must see" races :
1) The 200 free ; it's always a good race, it's a slugfest and this year looks no different

2) the 200 breast ; it's wide open and looks to be close

3) the 100 fly ; 'cause staab and shields might actually have a real fight afterwards

4) 100 breast and any Nathan Adrian event ; 'cause it's the last year to see Dugonjic and Adrian swim in yards and do what they do best

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3) the 100 fly ; 'cause staab and shields might actually have a real fight afterwards

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LOL!!!

Here's a breakdown of the situation for the Ags:

A&M has a very outside chance at the top 15. 14 would be absolute max level (though that's extremely unlikely). We won't catch anyone in the top 13, because Indiana and Tennessee (numbers 12 and 13) also have outstanding divers.

UNLV and Minnesota (14 and 15) are both very similar to us in that they have two very good relays, with the difference that they also have other, average relays that will score decently in B-finals, as well as several individual scorers. It would be a hail mary to catch them, and would depend almost entirely on unbelievable relay swims. UNC (16) is catchable with good performances, as they haven't come anywhere near expectations this season (and their women didn't swim particularly well). Carolina controls their own destiny though, because if they swim to potential, they beat us. Penn State (17) is very catchable, and the Ags are 18.

Behind us, a very motivated Clemson group (19) and an underrated Louisville group (21) could catch us, though that's not probable.

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 3/22/2011 10:12a).]

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3) the 100 fly ; 'cause staab and shields might actually have a real fight afterwards

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What is the story behind this?

These guys have a bad history?

[This message has been edited by bogustrumper (edited 3/22/2011 11:20a).]

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unless of course the judges DQ for fly kicks during breast ;-p

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+1

Ha, in fairness to Cal, FINA has different rules interpretations than USA-Swimming...

I'm looking forward to the 200 fly. Poor Mark Dylla could miss out on a National Title AGAIN, this time by Shields

Bogus - They just have a very heated rivalry (shields as an 'upstart', staab as a veteran), especially as they are each from arch-rival programs.

Did you guys see David Nolan's (HS senior, bound for Stanford) times from last weekend?

1:41.39 200 IM, national HS record (crushed his own record)
45.49 100 back (crushed Cragin's record)
42.34 100 free (crushed Feigen's record)

His IM time would make him the 1st seed at the NCAAs. He would be seeded top 8 in the other two.

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Bogus - They just have a very heated rivalry (shields as an 'upstart', staab as a veteran), especially as they are each from arch-rival programs.

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And it's heated up quickly...thanks to Staab sitting out last year, they've both won NCAA titles in the 100 fly, but had never competed head-to-head prior to this season.

And to add to what Spice said, they also put up a 3:00 400 free relay that almost broke the National Record in the race where he broke the 100 free record. That means they had a 42 and three 46's at a public school.

Not only an amazing time, but really makes you appreciate how incredible that record was.

Just saw how close Enriquez was to qualifying for the meet by invitation...he's listed on the "alternates" page, which indicates that if they had finished the round of entries-per-event that they were on, he would've been in.

(For those unfamiliar, NCAA invites a certain number of swimmers, not entries per event. They go "one here, one here, one here, one here, one here, one here" event-by-event until they hit the total number of invited swimmers for the meet. If they stop mid-row, they use the times as a percentage of the NCAA record to decide which events take priority based on the time of that next entrant. Enriquez was on that final row, but his time didn't rank high enough in the pecking order, meaning that it came down to tiny margins, even in a race that long, for him to qualify.)

Omar was also just as close last year even with shaving off 2 seconds. Snowden was also very close

IT STARTS TOMORROW!

For the Ags today: 200 free relay, 400 medley, Troskot and Dalton in the 50 free (though I assume with two relays on the day that they'll both scratch).

Ags have entries in all 5 relays.

http://www.star-meets.org/results/NCAA/2011%20Men/


Live results.

Troskott and Dalton should both be fit enough to race for 19.8 seconds between two relays! There is an intermission after the 50 free.

19.8? Don't sell them so short.

wow, talk about a fast group. men drop with a fast time and get nudged out, end up 11th. i think that time flirts with the school record? couple tenths off i believe? not the A heat points we needed, but hopefully we can win the B heat tonight. still a good way to start the meet swimming fast, gotta keep the momentum going.

Not a bad swim at all. Will be a good race with Clemson in finals...

Test

Pass?

or fail?

That was a lot of time left on the block by our guys, great swim overall tho. Very impressed with Balazs

Favre - yeah, those exchanges were a little slow but maybe the coaches told them to be safe? and have fun....

Anyways, nice swim by the ags, Balazs really stepped on that.

Fair swims by Dalton and Troskot on the 50, was expecting a little quicker maybe but still good swims overall!

On a side note :
I bet D'Innocenzo is pretty disappointed at missing that 200 IM final, and so is Richards in the 50....

D'Innocenzo was looking for a big meet...that hurts Texas.

Boys did well to hold their times in the 50 free. The end of this season has just seemed...odd...so staying even at NCAA's in individuals and improving relays is a job well done.

Lots of big misses in the 50 free...including Virginia's Scot Robison. That hurts for them. Auburn has 6 finalists in the 50 free..wow!

This is an awkward medley relay...

Auburn sets American record in 200 free relay in prelims with two freshmen on the squad.

definitely not an american record.

American record: 1:15.90

Auburn prelim time 1:15.50

You are right as they aren't all Americans my bad.

[This message has been edited by Beretta O/U (edited 3/24/2011 2:10p).]

Auburn had several foreigners on that relay. Stanford did set the American Record, however.