So what's the story? How did we lose to the ponies and what does it take to beat them next year?

With the move to the SEC what are our greatest needs to be competitive against Florida, Auburn etc.

More. Just more. There's a big leap from top 10 in the country to top 8 (where Florida and Auburn are), and it comes from having a lot more depth than the A&M men have right now. We'll have...two, possibly three, individual scorers at NCAA's? Auburn and Florida will have 8 or 9. You can get about 10th with relays alone, but higher than that, you need to hit the individual scoring.

Plus, we'll have to replace Grant, which is what our big edge on most of the SEC (which is pretty weak in diving) would be this year.

Ponies suited up.

There have been Aggie teams in the past that didn't even win a duel meet but yet got 12th at NCAA's. I think this is a much better team than those teams were. Looking at the results and seeing a loss to a team like that definitely stings. But when you see that SMU broke a school record you realize how much stock they took into that meet. Unless something was done differently than has been done in the past it looks like this team has potential to do some damage at NCAA's with how fast they have been in season. I realize it won't be easy to compete right away in the SEC but the team is on track, just need to grab a couple more elite swimmers. It'll definitely be interesting to see if the program is still all NCAA championship based or how they react to the SEC championship meet.

Cue, Spicewood... (enters stage left?)

I think until the ponies stop suiting up and resting for this meet, they're going to make it competitive just about every year. It's not necessarily a commentary on our program as much as it is an indication of what's important to the SMU team

That dual meet strategy really seems to be paying off for SMU at their conference meet. Or the exact opposite.