Curious if those of you who are more knowledgeable have a feeling what it would take for our ladies to become truly competitive for the top spot. I'm really glad we have been so consistently in the top ten - what six years running? And I think we've been 6th or tied for it a couple of times. But I think that's been as good as it has been. Thoughts?

Colorado,

Sprinters and the return of Ibanez and Henry. That will give the girls the ability to have 5 great relays and more individual points. Both MR are all sophomores. They could win both relays in the next two years. That would mean major points.

My thinking is that if we had Sarah Henry and Lili Ibanez this year we would have beaten Arizona. 3rd, 4th, and 5th this year were just 26 points apart.

We need better freestyle swimmers for 50, 100, and 200. We scored nothing in those events this year. More importantly, our freestyle relays were weak.

The top few teams probably put 4 or 5 relays in the A final. That alone guarantees 5 x 22 points = 110 and probably much more (since relays are worth double).

This was a big year for our divers, and we are not likely to be that good for some time. Jaele and Janie are gone now. Unless Jay has some big recruits on their way our diving will dropoff big next year.

So my recipe to be a consistent top 5 team is simply to recruit a bit better. Steve is a superb coach. So is Lerew. So we just need a few more athletes in the program for a leap to the next level.

Yeah, I gotta say sprinters, specifically free sprinters.

Look at it this way : There are 16 swimming events. 11 of those (if you include the 800 free relay as a sprint, which I think it is) are unarguably sprints. 6 of these being freestyle sprints.

So, 69% sprint events. 38% just free sprints.
3 of the 6 freestyle sprint events are worth double because they are relays.

Either way you look at it, the meets points are weighted towards sprinting; and specifically free sprinting.

Our ladies are getting 6th without any look-in on those points, that alone is impressive. If they land a few blue-chip free sprinters, I don't think there'd be anyone ahead of them.

BTW - I have no idea what Steve and Tanica say to potential recruits. But I think we should not fear going negative towards Texas. There are so many things wrong with that program (womens) and we should highlight our clearly better performance as a team. I heard that the team nearly had a blowup after Big12s. We may be fortunate that Brackins and the womens AD (Plonsky) are buddies and no change is likely. The ONLY advantage Texas has is Austin over College Station.

I think they should swim faster and get higher diving scores.

On a serious note, here's the rundown on this year's class (with select times) at least based on the CollegeSwimming.com recruiting list:

Claire Brandt
Free - 22.89, 50.56, 1:48.17
Back - 55.15, 1:58.17
Fly - 55.55
Trials cuts in 50 free, 200 back

Katherine Huff
Free - 23.29, 50.64, 1:48.29
Back - 55.10
Fly - 55.31
Trials cuts in 50, 100 free

Romy Landeck
Breast - 1:01.93, 2:12.35
IM - 2:01.67, 4:16.15
Trials cuts in 100, 200 breast, 2IM

Ashley McGregor
Breast - 1:09.46, 2:27.82(LCM) 1:06.79, 2:22.58 (SCM)
IM - 2:18.90, 4:53.14 (LCM), 2:14.84, 4:43.10 (SCM)
Canadian Trials next week

Meredith Oliver
Free - 50.47, 1:47.64, 4:51.53
IM - 2:02.59, 4:19.71
Trials cuts in 2&4 IM

So I thought tu women's swimming had this all world 2011 & 2012 recruiting class. But here we finish above them at NCAA's.

I've also heard that the tu women's swimming program is in shambles. Also, from a pure objective standpoint, you can just look at their swimmers' times after they got into tu & they've gotten slower.

Contrast that with us, and our ladies get faster when they are under our coaches!

We will be Breaststroke U. next year by adding those two to Breeja and Dittmer.

Please God let the other three signees continue to get better, not to mention Bosma and Benjamin, so we can get back where we belong in the sprint free.

Somebody please tell Bultman to give poor little Caroline McElhany a day off. That girl earned her scholarship money and then some last weekend. Hopefully she won't have to be on all the relays again next year.

McElhany is the poster child for Texas A&M >>>> tu for women's swimming!

She had a terrific year that showed the potential she had in high school, squandered at Texas.

BTW - Aquabullet did a great job illustrating how important sprint freestyle is to NCAA swimming.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 3/19/2012 4:11p).]

LOB- Miller and Mclehany both raced a total of 13 times during the course of the meet. Miller had completed 11 after the first two days. I feel like she gets completely overlooked...I mean she is a pure sprinter, yet she swam the 200im and all 4 of the entered relays (all done in a fairly dominating fashion). Swimmer of the meet in my opinion is Miller, solely for her diversity and mental toughness.

Yup (on Miller).

What impresses me the most about her though is how friggen fast her 50 fly is. She had the fastest 50 fly split in the entire meet.

Good point heya. I guess I just think of Miller as more a lock on those relays whereas McElhany isn't. You're right in that she swam just as much and that shouldn't be overlooked. She's an absolute terror on the medleys and easily one of the best 50 flyers in the country. We are lucky to have her.

Will ESPNU replay this or have they already shown it?

I think they replayed it the other night.