The conference title will be up for grabs in a little over a week. Should be one of the fastest meets in the country. The depth is astounding.

Women's meet

Will BFB break more ARs?
Will SFH win the 500 and mile?
Will CFA establish some records of her own?
How will Olympian LI do after redshirting last year?

Men's meet

Who will step up for the men's BR leg? Answer: Nobody.
Will Dalton go out with more schools records?
What freshman will rise to the occasion?
Will Frank end up on the right side of the 400IM cut off?
Will OE beat Frank and get back the school record?


PSYCH SHEET
http://phelps.swimswamllc.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/psych-sheet-for-2013-secs.pdf

LIVE RESULTS
http://www.aggieathleticsmedia.com/swimstats/SEC2013/

http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/SECSPORTS/CHAMPIONSHIPS/SwimmingandDivingChampionships.aspx


[This message has been edited by TheSituation80 (edited 2/15/2013 9:04p).]

On the women's side I think the key question is how badly does Bultman want to fight Georgia for the title? And vice versa?

If Bultman REALLY wants best results at NCAAs the big 3 won't be rested much. They'll save their tapers for NCAAs since they already have their cuts. Others like Paige, Ibanez, Simpson, McElhaney, McLaine, etc. need to swim fast to earn their cuts. (I don't know where all the girls stand on their cuts).

The SEC stars like Schmitt probably will also not rest much.

Lots of fast swimmers throughout the league though so it should be a spectacle. Wow the Big12 looks so lame now.

I'm anxious to see what McGregor does. Her 1:01 and 2:08 were nice times, but can she break 1:00?

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 2/10/2013 1:59p).]

Georgia is always nails at SEC's. NCAA's not always. I expect them to be strong. Our aim should be NCAA's for the three mentioned earlier and any relay swimmers already in.

That said, the big three will still be more than on their game. Bultman knows what he's doing and gets better every year at hitting both conference and NCAA's just right performance-wise.

And yes the Big 12 looks ultra-lame. The only swimmers that Texas should taper are those who aren't already into the NCAA meet. That conference meet is now officially a joke.

I'm also curious to see what Florida, Auburn, and Tennessee do. They've been quite fast during dual meets this season and I'm not sure that's going to end well for them, be it next week or at NCAA's.

LOB - I agree. The big three will be fast because THEY KNOW HOW TO RACE. Steve has the supercomputer in his brain dialed in so he can rest them just enough to be fast at SECs but faster at NCAAs. Tapering distance swimmers is sometimes difficult so I'm not sure exactly how he does that with Henry and Adams.

Texas swam some fast times against Arizona. A few were rested a bit, and most were suited up. Tucker was particularly fast with her 1:44 200. Jacques had a fine meet too. I think Capitani is doing a solid job so far.

Dax showed some speed finally with his 1:33 200 and 43 100.

Gotta believe McLaine (7th in country in mile), Ibanez (8th in 50, 10th in 200), Simpson (14th in 200back), McElhany (3rd in 200 Fly), and McGregor (10th in 200breast) are in.

Others have work to do to solidfy individual places at the meet. Remember, relay swimmers don't make it in like the used to.

I expect the men to put up some strong performances. The atmosphere should electric and conducive to fast swimming no matter the amount of rest.

We can only hope that the men get somewhere less than last. After all it is the SEC, and they have NO breaststroker who can break a minute. Well, wait they have had some guys go under, but I am sure the coaching will screw that up somehow.

They should shoot for 11th.

I believe the NCAA quals for relay swimmers are:

3 individual qualifiers can bring 4 alternates with a relay "A" cut.
4 individual qualifiers can bring 4 alternates with a relay "B" cut.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

[This message has been edited by Thesituation80 (edited 2/11/2013 2:37p).]

ONE WEEK OUT!!!

How do the A&M girls match up with Georgia in a conference meet vs. a dual meet? It seems like A&M matches up really well on paper against any SEC team because of the versatility, depth, and speed in every event. It probably comes down to how many girls are rested in order to get an NCAA cut.

Dual meet scoring is heavily biased towards 1st place in an event (9 points vs. 4 pts. for 2nd), That places a premium on winning and de-values depth.

In a conference meet the points are scattered across a bunch of teams. So depth matters a lot. A team with a superstar in one event, might not score the most points in that event because other teams might have multiple scorers. Or the multiple scorers minimize the damage inflicted by a superstar.

I took a look at season best times for A&M and UGA. It looks like it could be a close battle. UGA is strong in the freestyle relays (so far faster than A&M in all three). A&M is stronger in the medleys. Relays score double. Schmitt hasn't reached top form yet. She should give Henry and Adams a huge fight in the 500 and maybe the 200.

Our divers are not nearly as strong as last year. But I don't know what the other teams' girls divers are like. Diving is three events though and could be a big factor.

An SEC top ten finish for the men would be sweet sugar!

[This message has been edited by Anonymiss (edited 2/14/2013 9:57a).]

[This message has been edited by Anonymiss (edited 2/14/2013 9:57a).]

Top ten in SEC? Hopefully!

SwimSwam seems to think A&M will come in third behind Georgia and Tennesse. Diving will be a factor for the girls. Our free style relays always seem to get faster at the end of the year especially the sprints. Overall I think the girls look much stronger than last year and could place higher. Looking at the girls roster of 18 swimmers, they look pretty strong after the big three. We seem to be as deep as anyone with several stars. Good luck ladies.

I may be missing something but I just don't see Tennessee beating A&M. They beat Georgia in a dual meet, but that seems no more significant than when Texas beat A&M in dual meets.

Tennessee doesn't seem to have a backstroker. Maybe won't put anyone in the A final. It looks like Tenn's scoring will be concentrated in four swimmers or so. In a prelim/finals meet they can't ask Kelsey Floyd to swim everything.

I don't know Tennessee's roster all that well but based on times to date I don't see how they can beat us.

Our divers will likely not help us much this year. We are way down from last year, especially on platform.

Just an FYI: Texas A&M's own Julia Wilkinson will be covering the SEC meet for TexAgs!! (mainly the women's side, with a little on the men)

Tennessee had a monster SEC meet last year to get second ahead of Auburn and Florida. For the most part, they really paid for it at NCAA's. I'm very interested to see how they perform. Based on past experience, I like our chances against them -- even if our diving situation is not as good as it has been recently.

http://swimswam.com/2013-conference-championship-primer-division-i-majors/

Live results link inside.

When does the psych sheet come out?

LOB - I just don't see Tennessee beating A&M unless they have gigantic drops in time. The SEC winning times last year compare favorably to A&M's season best times so far.

All of Tenn's 800 free relay swimmers are back so they should be strong there. The have only two IMers capable of scoring - Kelsey Floyd in the 200 and Gendron in the 400. But Gendron didn't swim it last year. Tennessee lost a lot of points when Jenny Connolly graduated. I guess we will have a better idea how this might play out when we see the psych sheet.

Psych sheets are up.

Teams arrive today.

This week is going to be epic.
Diving points can definitely play a big part on both sides. Unfortunately, the team this year isn't as strong as the last few years. Rebecca St. Germain and Ford McLiney were named SEC diver of the week a few times this season. Hopefully they can show great performances this week. Georgia has a girl (Laura Ryan) that can potentially win all 3 events. That would definitely hurt us since it will be a good battle on the swimming side.
Can't wait to see how many records will be broken this week. I think the big 3 will break a few ones even if they are not fully rested!

The precut psych sheet looks promising for the Ags. Does that information give the coaches any useful information for which races to put the girls in, or is it so fluid that the coaches hide their true intentions for the girls that can win many different events? It seems like a lot of chess pieces that can be moved around.

It gives them some, but the more important info comes out once the coaches determine who is swimming what race.

A good example - I can't believe Florida will actually ask Beisel to swim 200 breaststroke. Not sure why she is in the psych sheet for that event at all.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 2/18/2013 2:36p).]

Just saw the story on the final dual meet rankings for the year. Us at #10 with a 9-1 record and a single loss to #3 Auburn (a meet we could and should have won)? And behind Texas...?

As if the Ags needed any more motivation. Get your popcorn ready.

It is finally here! Bring it on SEC, we are ready!

Those dual meet rankings are so stupid. Was our loss against Auburn the meet where we had two relay DQs?

As for Texas ranking above us - that's comical. Texas is improving under Capitani, and their divers are very solid. But A&M would trash them in a serious meet.

IT'S RACEDAY!!!!

Live streaming of the diving is on. Really good quality video stream.....

I'll eat my cap and goggles if there are 9 teams better than the A&M women at season's end.

Don't be a JRS04.

Ford is 3rd after prelims.

Way to go Ford!