Not too surprising but t.u. won 13 out of 16 events, including the opening four races to win the 2006 edition of the State Farm Lone Star Showdown, 165-129.

Not too surprising. The only way we have a chance to be competitive with texas is if we make a Pat Henry type coaching hire.

Nothing against the current coach, but tu's coach has kids nearly banging on the door to become his next star.

The results were worse than the score. Texas held down the score. They actually won the 200IM but they marked that an exhibition swim. Texas 400 free relay was probably their C team. Texas won the 500 free with Garrett Weber Gale, one of the best sprinters in the country. He normally races 50 and 100 free. He beat our best guy at the 500.

Sullivant's win in the 50 over Weber Gale was a bright spot.

I think a Texas team with their 2nd fastest in each event would beat us handily.

Holmes has a few redshirts for next year including a guy who would already be our fastest distance swimmer. But we will lose some good seniors (Sullivant, Kemp, Dawson, Watson) and next year will be a challenge. We need an awesome recruiting class and I'm not sure how we'll do that.

BTW - the women's team is very strong and could beat Texas in coming years.

Mens swimming has never been competetive

Wrong. A&M men's swimming has been a consistent top 25 team until recently. Nash generally kept the team around 15th. But it wasn't going up - when Texas is usually top 5. That is why Byrne made the change. But Byrne screwed it up - not sure Holmes was the right guy anyway, but Byrne gave him a 1 year contract. So Holmes could not recruit for the 2004-2005 season. His most recent class was pretty good, but he needs several years of good classes, including a few nationally ranked swimmers to even get close to Texas.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 2/5/2006 7:16a).]

Aglax...our men's swimming team has finished in the top 25 at the NCAA Championships almost every year since we opened the new pool...not only is that competitive, it's one of the best strings any of our sports here has put together...we just have the unfortunate consequence of having one of the top 5 swimming powerhouses in the country for the last 30 years in our conference and they are coached by the U.S. Olympic coach...anybody with half a clue knows they have a monster recruiting advantage over us...Spicewood makes an excellent point about recent events not exactly helping us either

holmes was given a four year contract extension to help prove the stability of the program to recruits.

also....."Holmes estimated that three-fourths of his team produced season-bests against the Longhorns."

that is a very good thing for any swim team at any meet. the coaches must be doing something right.

did anyone go to the meet?

I don't mean to imply the coaches aren't doing a good job. I expect at the Big 12s they will swim well. They should beat Missouri but will lose big to tu.

The talent gap is simply huge right now. Texas gets nationally ranked high school swimmers or kids who have Olympic trials times. We are getting Texas runner ups. They're good kids, they swim hard, and will improve.

To give you an idea of the gap - Texas has four swimmers that swim 200 freestyle under 1:40. We have zero. They have four that swim 500 free under 4:30. We have none. In an 800 free relay Texas might beat us by 15 seconds, more than a length of the pool. It is like that in most of the events.

I'm pulling for Holmes, Boyd, and the seniors. I hope Holmes recruits a great class that sets the stage for the future.

The Ags actually have two guys that could go under 4:30...unfortunately they are having to sit out this season (Hard and Zdesar)...those two on the bench has been a killer in dual meets for the men for most of the season

I knew Zdesar was redshirting. Hard swam as a freshman. What happened to him this season?

I hear Zdesar had some kind of eligibility issue because he is not American. Any truth to that?

top 25 out of ?

Maybe 75?? Don't know for sure. Div-I Men's swimming has suffered badly, maybe more than any sport, from Title IX.

I personally believe A&M could, over time, be a consistent Top 10 program. Beat Texas? Maybe if Eddie Reese retires.

I tell you what would thrill me - to see an Aggie swimmer standing on the blocks in the finals of the Olympics. I'd prefer he be on the American team but even that doesn't matter. Many top NCAA swimmers are foreigners now (like track).

top 25 out of approximately 140...for those of you keeping track, that's more schools than have DI football...

I wonder why people think there aren't that many swimming teams in the country...I hear a lot of people say that...

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 2/6/2006 1:03p).]

LOB - Is that Div 1 programs? If so - I am surprised and pleased.

I just look at the Big 12 and we only have 3 teams (tu, MU, and A&M).

yes that is Div. I teams...the fact that the Big 12 is sparse is not reflective of the rest of the country...conferences like the PAC-10, SEC and Big 10 all have large strong swimming conferences...there are also many schools on the east coast with good programs...The schools that finished ahead of A&M by conference last year were SEC (5), PAC-10 (4), Big 10 (3), 1 Big 12 and 1 ACC...the Ags are really not doing as bad as people seem to think

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 2/6/2006 1:26p).]

Zdesar will be ready to go in the fall and might be A&M's best male swimmer on the national level that we've had here in a while...he'll need some help with that talented group of srs graduating though


[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 2/6/2006 3:03p).]

Watch for A&M to make a huge appearance at conference and NCAA's. I predict you will see a completly different team. Dual meets mean nothing and Holmes will have his guys ready for the meets that count.

I'm all for it!

Yes, I think it is more fair to judge the team on the NCAA final finish. That is what the AD will judge them on...so that is what they focus on.
It is true that there is a huge jump in talent, even if we were to get 10th this year, 5th place is more than twice as good as 10th (as far as points needed).
The current coach pulled in his first recruiting class last year and it was the best class, hands down, since AT LEAST 1997, maybe a lot longer (they got 2 olympians).
Give the current coach one or two more recruiting classes to prove the gap can be closed.
Part of the problem with the appearance is that, in a dual meet, you can swim 30 people, but when it comes to the end of the season, you only get 18 swimmers. True, texas probably has 40 swimmers on their team, which gives them huge depth, but the point spread between them and us (at the confernce meet) has been closing because you can only compete your top 18 people.