NCAAs starts Thursday. Should start with a bang since the first event in finals is the 200 free relay. Also have 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free, and the 400 medley relay.

Swimswam picks the Aggies 4th, behind GA, Cal, and Florida. I am not sure why they pick Florida over A&M since A&M beat them at SECs. Neither team has divers at NCAAs.

I think A&M could finish 3rd if they avoid the slow start they had last year. We must swim fast enough in prelims to make finals. I think on the first day lots of the women swim fast, and we can't have Cammille or Sarah go too slow in the 500 prelims.

We have some of the same issues as everyone else - who was rested for conference championships and has a chance to improve. Others will be working to hold on to their times and the points we need. We can't pick up diving points since none of our divers advanced.

A few things I'm looking for:

- I hope our 200 free relay can knock a few tenths off and finish top 3
- 400 medley relay to finish top 3 (tough to do)
- Two American records from Breeja
- Great swims from Ibanez
- Improvement from SECs for Bosma
- 200 fly win from Cammille (again)
- Strong meet for seniors Larson, Dittmer, Adams, McElhaney
- Henry back at 100% (hopefully)
- no stupid DQs

There should be some outstanding racing from Breeja, Missy Franklin, etc. Every reason to believe some NCAA and American records will be set.

Schedule

Psych Sheet



[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 3/24/2014 10:14a).]

Top to bottom, this should be a pretty incredible meet. Really looking forward to it getting started.

I think our chances, as usual, are better in the medley relays thanks to Breeja but we are definitely much improved in the free relays. Top three in the 200 may be asking a little much but top four may not be out of the question. The 800 could be a big point boon for us too if we can get third. the 400 is probably our weakest and is also the hardest to get up for with it being at the end of the meet. I hope we can find a way to 'A' final all five. I'm not sure that we've ever done that before. Should have in 2008; was our only hiccup in an otherwise spectacular meet.

The relays are the biggest key for us in trying to grab third or fourth and bring home our third team trophy. Got to bring it 110% every single race or we could end up lower then we should've (like last year).

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 3/19/2014 11:41a).]

LOB - I agree. A finals for all five relays would be outstanding. Our seeding is worst on the 200 medley relay - a bit odd in comparison to our 400 medley relay. But the 200 MR is a bit weird for us because Paige is probably our best sprinter for both back and fly.

Our weak first day doomed us last year - when we missed 3rd by just a few points.

Agreed. While we did hand Tennessee third last year, they had a phenomenal meet to give themselves the chance to finish there. I, and pretty much everyone outside of Knoxville, still can't believe they won the first three relays last year.

A non-Aggie thing to watch is Texas' divers. Maren Taylor could win both 1M and 3M. Bromberg could win platform. And Ivory-Ganja could place on any of them.

It amazes me how much of a non-factor they are in swimming this year. It's quite conceivable that none of their relays will 'A' final. For their sake, I hope they swam through Big 12's to help their divers out as much as possible.

Texas has little depth. Some good swimmers like Lobb, Tucker, Moldenhauer, and Jacques. The new freshmen Cox and Karosas are fast and will become more important to them over time.

But it is hard for them to put four of them together for a fast relay. They are a pretty good 200 free team. They should be well rested. Big12s were a cruise for them.

Their divers on the other hand are incredible. From top to bottom their divers (male and female) are the best in the NCAA this year.

Huge start, 1:27.19 200 free relay for A Final.

They are underway.

Live Results

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200 free relay prelims done....A&M seeded third with a very strong 1:27.19. Finals tonight will be a dogfight. I watched the race and and Breeja's start scared me. Very aggressive prelims swim! Looks like Bosma is not faster than she was at SECs. But overall a fine swim. Two teams had 4 swimmers under 22: Georgia and Tennessee.

The rest of today has not gone as well.

Very disappointing 500 free from Cammille. Henry gets the last spot in the A final. I had hoped for two Aggies in the A final. Cammille has the time in season to have easily made the A. But she is either not in form or badly misjudged the speed she needed.

No scoring for us in the 200 IM although we had good swims. Dittmer slid by 2 secs and will not swim the IM tonight. Her seed time would have put her in the A final.

50 free was a bit better. Ibanez just missed the A final. Breeja had a very good swim for what must be a personal best.

True for Cammile, bu still great swims.

The 400 MR was smokin' hot in prelims. I watched this race and every leg looked outstanding.

Updated - the Aggies are seeded 1st tonight and they are close to the NCAA record. It seems like Breeja could shave a couple tenths from her 57.5 split.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 3/20/2014 1:49p).]

a second ahead!

How is the 400 so good but the 200 lacking?

The 200 MR is not as good as the 400MR mostly because we have only one Paige Miller. Paige is the team's fastest 50 back and 50 fly swimmer. Whichever 50 she doesn't swim - our next swimmer is really good but not quite with the fastest in the field.

BTW - it looks like both the 200 free relay and 400 medley relays this morning were school records.

The relays were fantastic but the individual events were generally painful. The good news is when you qualify eighth and 16th there is nowhere to go but up. I'd really like to see Sarah lay one out there in that 500 free tonight (not to mention I'd like to see a first-ever relay national champion).

LOB - I agree - though I didn't have big hopes in the 200IM. We have a solid 200 IM group, but we needed Dittmer to swim that 1:55. 1:57+ doesn't get you very far at NCAAs. Next year people like McMahon could be swimming 1:55 and then we would be in better shape point wise.

I am only slightly disappointed in the 50. It is just hard to get that race consistently right. I think Ibanez is naturally a 100/200 swimmer.

The single most disappointing swim though was Adams' 500. It could be my faulty memory, but I think she has a habit of not swimming aggressively enough at times. Same way she races her 200 fly - go out comfortable and finish strong. Can't do that at NCAAs if you swim comfortable in prelims.

I will be holding my breath during the 400 MR tonight.

lost it at the touch

Great swim in the 400 MR, especially Paige. Stanford changed two swimmers and they dropped huge time to beat us.

Maybe LOB knows - is that our highest relay finish at NCAAs?

Tie for highest finish with 800 free relay in 2008.

I hope the ladies have another gear today. We could score points in everything contested today except diving. The only event where seeding says we won't is 100 fly, but Paige could move up.

I am concerned Breeja is tired already. Her relay splits are at her flat start times. I don't see an AR from her today unless she has somehow gotten an infusion of taper.

Aggies in good shape for tonight. The 200 MR was terrifc, though I think we can expect everyone to go faster tonight.

Both Cammille and Henry in the A final of the 400IM. I'd say though that the race is between Margalis, Beisel and Dorado, who looked like she coasted the last 25 yds. I think Dorado wins. We score plenty of points.

I didn't see the rest of prelims but it looks like:

Shutout in 100 fly - but I think Paige managed that swim to save for 100 back where she is first seed.

Breeja was out fast in her 100, but looks like she eased up in the second half. She will have a race tonight - McClellen swam 57.81 this morning. I don't think Breeja has much more to give.

Lili in the A final of 200 free. I don't see her matching her 1:43 from earlier in the season.

Paige could win 100 back tonight. She has been fastest so far in both of her relay 100 swims. The race should be between her, Cindy Tran, Felicia Lee and Bartholemew.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 3/21/2014 2:34p).]

Breeja and Paige both won!

WHOOP

looking good!

So excited for Paige! And Breeja! Ags are making some noise.

Is that relay really taking this long to finish? Seems like along time.

Well, it looks like I spoke too soon. The results just came in and the Ags finished 7th and got 24 points. I'm not sure what we were expecting.

We are in 4th place after the 2nd day. It looks like a pretty big chore to get into 3rd, but I'll let others with more knowledge comment on that.

Breeja must have dug deep to swim that time. Awesome swim and a new American and NCAA record (again). Gonna have to watch out for Emma Reaney in the 200 breaststroke - she is even faster than she was in her conference meet.

Fantastic win in the 100 back for Paige. Added another to our list of NCAA champions. Congratulations to her for beating a very strong field.

Great finals swims in a brutal event for Henry and Adams in the 400IM. 29 points.

A bit disappointed in the 800 free relay. Looks like Lili was gassed from the 200 free earlier.

I don't think we can get 3rd overall. Stanford came to race and is swimming very well.

Overall a very solid day for the Aggies highlighted by two NCAA champions.

Congratulations to Breeja Larson and Paige Miller NCAA Champions!

200 Back - McClure in B Final
100 Free - Ibanez in B
200 Breast - Larson in A (#1 seed), McGregor in A (#3)
200 Fly - Adams in A (#1), McElhany in A (#5)

[This message has been edited by SpongeBob (edited 3/22/2014 12:24p).]

Forgot that Bosma is also in the B 100 free final - two Aggies should score.

Paige in the B 200 back final - two Aggies should score.

McMahon in the B 200 breast final - three Aggies should score points.

Question for AgBlastoff - how on earth did SwimSwam pick Florida third and miss Stanford's great swimming?

Of course they also didn't include Paige in the top 8 for 100 back!