Women's Swimming & Diving - Friday - 5 p.m. - Rec Center

If you want to see a war between two close teams that will go down to the last couple of races, this is the event for you...the Ags having a chance to beat Texas in swimming is few and far between...don't miss this opportunity!

Unless something weird happens - A&M should win this. Texas had a few good swims against Stanford, but depth seems lacking. Should be all A&M in freestyle, great races in back and breast.

I think it will be a barnburner...Brown and Tinnon are on fire for Texas right now and the Aggies only have one diver...that new girl Escobar is swimming well too...I think the meet will come down to the last couple of events...it should really be a great meet

I agree Brown and Tinnon were fast against Stanford. That was a two-day meet though and it made Texas' lack of depth less of an issue.

We should finish 3 of 4 top places in 50, 100, and 200 free. We'll win all the free relays, and I'd bet on us in the medleys.

Tinnon is much faster now in 100 breast than she was earlier (NCAA cut already). We'll see how Alia can do head to head.

I think Wilkinson takes 200 IM and no worse than 2nd in her other races.

I wish I could watch this meet....

They still have a live stream icon up on the A&M site...maybe they are going to try to video it again

I heard that there were some IT problems last meet, and hopefully they got sorted out. The meet will definitely be one that goes down the last event. I can't wait

Anyone know the last time A&M beat UT in swimming? Either men's or women's?

We beat them badly at the Big12 Relays this season. The story on the front page of Texags today says we have beaten Texas just twice in 30 dual meets. Don't know the last time. I suspect Brackins is nervous today. I hope Bultman lined up the girls to win. We don't know the event list (which seems to change for every dual meet) so it is a bit difficult to predict how he will use his team. I'm particularly interested in what he does with Codie Hansen. I think Texas has swum a faster 500 this year than A&M, but Hansen is our best at that distance.

I'd like to see:

Wilkinson win 100 back and 200 im
Alia challenges Tinnon in the 100 breast, will lose in the 200 breast
Aljan takes the 50 free
A&M goes 1-2-4 in the 200 free
A&M wins all free relays
A&M wins the 200 medley relay
Hansen wins 500 free, we get 1st and 4th

Women - Oct. 13, 2006
Last dual meet was in 1999

Men - Oct. of 2001 at Big 12 Relays

Spicewood - there are only one medley and one freestyle relay in one day dual meets

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 11/3/2006 1:22p).]

I guess I should have been more specific. I knew about both of the Big XII relay wins (2001 & 2006). I didn't know our women beat them in a duel meet in 1999, though.

I don't know of any other duel or championship meets that we have beat them in a long time.

Good luck tonight girls!

Bummer about the relay limitations on the dual meets. That helps Texas.

Maybe our "A" and "B" can finish 1-2 in the freestyle relay....

whos winning?

why can't I see any of the 'live stats'?

Domination

they won - did the live video work?

There was another issue with the live stats, from what i could tell. Was awesome to see the girls step up soo much. I heard the live video was really good.

Any comments on how much our girls rock?

Live stats never worked but the streaming did. I didn't get to watch much but I saw Alia's win over Tinnon. VERY impressive. Also saw Aljan's 50 win. A nice surprise from Sarah Woods in the 50 and 100.

It was a smackdown every which way.

Props to the ladies. Great win.

BOTH of our 400 free relays beat Texas. Shows the incredible depth we have in freestyle.

We don't have depth in breast (except Awesome Alia), and Texas was 1-2 in 200 fly.

McCullough had great times in her events. She beat Hansen in the 500.

McCullough really was great...she showed a tremendous amount of heart in that 500 free as did Stratton in the 1000...even though the 500 didn't go her way, Hansen is still faster right now in all her events than this time last season..it's just a credit to the girls and Coach Bultman that the bar is being raised across the board

the even more amazing thing about the 400 free relays going 1-2 is that Wilkinson wasn't on either one of them...simply amazing

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 11/4/2006 12:01p).]

Any thoughts on why the two Big 10 schools (Illinois & Michigan) aren't bringing their men's teams down this week?

I haven't looked at their schedules, just wondering if it is a competition (or lack of) reason.

Illinois isn't that great so no big loss; Michigan has a split program and, judging by their schedule, they will go after their fast times at the U.S. Open where most of the top post-collegiate swimmers will be

you also have to remember who Michigan's men's coach is and, more importantly, who his prodigy is; he's taking care of his meal ticket

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 11/14/2006 12:57p).]

Good points. It's interesting to see the effect that Phelps has on that program without technically being part of it.

I think A&M should be due for hosting another US Open calliber meet. I don't think the seats were even installed yet when it was here. It is too good of a facility to have sectionals and Texas Sr. Circuit be the biggest events every year.

I don't mean to break up the thread ...I just started seriously following A&M swimming last year....

It looks like Bultman is a good recruiter but what about Holmes? I can't get a feel for it since the Ag's roster is dotted with transfers and kids outside the USA borders.

Anybody have insight on this? Does A&M have to go after different recruits versus who the sips, Indiana, Stanford, etc. go after?

I have no credible information on Holmes although I did meet him once (he was recruiting a kid on my son's club team).

So what I say is my outsider-looking-in opinion.

Holmes had no national reputation when he took over from Nash two years ago. Byrne did Holmes a severe disservice by giving him a one year contract. That was essentially a vote of no confidence. Holmes was killed in recruiting his first year (2004?). The men's team has not had many NCAA finalists except in relays. Maybe Matt Rose, who is a Canadian. Holmes recruited where he could his first year and where Texas gets 5A state champions, Holmes got 4A state runnerups. Holmes also has gone after some foreigners (not counting Canada as foreign).

Byrne fixed the contract thing in the spring of 2005 so recruits now know they are talking to a coach who has a chance to be around for awhile.

This year's class looks improved with a 5A champion on the team and Israel Duran looks outstanding. I think the team lacks depth in freestyle. Texas probably has five guys faster than our fastest 200 free guy. We lost a lot of seniors so our team is young right now. Our history as a strong sprinting team looks threatened right now. But I'd say Holmes is actually in better shape this year than last even if we perform worse at NCAAs or Big12s.

Texas had a very strong class this year. Ricky Berens is the unquestioned star of the class and was possibly the most recruited high school male swimmer last year.

We have outstanding facilities, of course the A&M culture, and the very strong women's team.

Just a guess - but A&M's men's team is five years away from being a top 10 team. Bultman is there now and it has been a long journey to get there. Bultman's team is VERY fast right now comparing times to the best swum so far by Stanford, etc.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 11/15/2006 1:40p).]

Thanks for the info!

It appears that the A&M women are close to competing for a national title and that the men will be fortunate to match last season's results but that Holmes is headed in the right direction.

Some of our local swimmers (Florida Panhandle) will have recruiters after them (several talented girls) soon ...I'm going to tell the local club coach about Bultman and his team.

I don't know about national titles yet! But our team is deep, fast, and seems to have chemistry.

We don't yet have a clear American superstar/Olympian on the team - someone setting American records. No one like Natalie Coughlin or Jessica Hardy. Julia Wilkinson is seriously fast. We're getting there. We have a great chance to score serious points at NCAAs.

My personal experience with Jay is limited, but very positive. When he was the assistant to Mel he had a lot of communication with recruits. Mel, however, appeared to have a lot of communication with the coaches. I don't know to what extent this held up for other situations, but I know that I personally had all my contact with Jay. This very well might have been because of his role at the time.

I think that the bottom line is that A&M needs to get to the point that the best swimmers in the state want to go there before they become upper classmen and are being recruited. If you take a sophomore who barely makes 5A state but really likes A&M, he's still gonna reallly like A&M when he is placing top 3 his senior year. The couple guys I swam with who swam at Texas were talking about swimming there since they were freshmen.

H2OPolo - I agree with you that A&M needs to connect to the kids in Texas at an earlier age. One of the problems is that they don't have many USA Swimming meets at the Rec Center. I met one of the A&M club team coaches and she said they are only allowed by A&M to host 3 meets a year. Texas may have as many as 9 USA Swimming meets a year at their pool. I think the 14 yr. old stars see the national championship banners and start thinking "I want to swim here in college." We need to create that same mindset with the top pre-high school, then underclass high school swimmers.

The Ags might not have any current U.S. superstars, but there are certainly some with up-and-comer labels in Marshall (1:48.5 200 free in Oct.) and Heiss (1:58.2 200 back also in Oct.)...Hansen and Sturdy ain't too shabby either. If the ladies keep swimming like they are, the big dogs will start giving us a look (as well they should if they know what's good for them)...

...and I'd take our NCAA leader in the breaststroke over Hardy right now in a heartbeat...this weekend's meet should throw up some bewildering times if they rest the way they usually do...

spicewood - certainly the men's team will be in the top 10 picture in 5 years, but i think it will be far sooner than that.

jay is significantly changing the composition of the team - see Duran and Bishop, who could both break 'distance' school records this year

as far as recruiting, the team is light years ahead of where it was a few years ago although it may not look it. A&M is creeping into the top 3-4 for many of the top recruits (including in-state), they're just not the top 1 yet.

if some of the current freshman do as well as they should, it will serve as a catalyst to change the face of the team and make A&M a legitimate choice for guys who see themselves as NCAA finalists, because Spicewood is right - the only guys that have scored individually at the national level recently are Rose and old Jacobo (and at least 4 different divers).

if you need an example - look at the girl's recruiting/ NCAA results pre-Sturdy and post-Sturdy.

2001 - 26th
2002 - No score
2003 (Sturdy arrives)- 16th
2004 - 13th
2005 - 11th
2006 - currently 9th (duel poll)

it is a slippery slope when you make fast swimmers go real fast. btw, that non-scoring girls team from 2002 included townsend, briskie, pesek, morelli, and plenty of other all-americans - so don't count out the guys
on campus right now.

this is a men's team that has been consistantly top 15 for many years now - look what one great season did for a non-ranked girl's squad.

be patient when talking about jay - he is revinventing the culture of the team and that takes time, especially when you have no real reputation and refuse to go for the quick-fix bridge-burning technique. the guys were never going to be top 10 with 4 relays and awesome divers.

Don't get me wrong. There is every reason to be optimistic about Jay and his team. This year's class is clearly better than last. But we have some real work to do in freestyle, especially the 200.

The mark of a truly good NCAA team is one that scores individual points at the NCAAs. Our men have generally had good relays.

It's hard to believe by the way that Texas didn't win NCAAs with Crocker/Hansen/Peirsol.

Success feeds on itself. If we finish well - we have a great story to use in recruiting. There are some really fine swimmers in Texas who will be looking at schools in the next few years. Ben Decker in breastroke. Max Murphy in backstroke. Jimmie Feigen in sprint freestyle (20.8 already this season as a junior). Let's get some of these kids!

Great post. I completely agree with your assessment of the women, and am very encouraged by what you said about Jay's approach. I have always thought he was a great guy, but didn't realize the plan he has been puting in place.

It sounds like if a different team structure had been in place in 1999 & 2001 when the men placed about 10th, then the "slippery slope" might have happened to them then. I know that there used to be a stigma that guys didn't get faster at A&M. Hopefully Jay is changing that.

It is really great to see the women doing so well. With all the improvement in other areas of the athletic department, I would have thought that swimming would be the least likely to improve because (a) it was already very good & (b) it is more difficult to jump from top 25 to top 5 than it is in team sports. Way to prove me wrong!

certainly the lack of improvement stigma existed for the non-sprinter types during the nash years but even at the end of his career they were having some success outside of freestyle.

it is never easy to improve a non-revenue sport, but i would never doubt the athletic department's commitment to building the team.

in fact, the team is sporting a brand new color scoreboard and all the home meets have streaming online video. that deserves a whoop.

whoop.