Great job ladies. Good job also guys. Keep up the good work. I know how hard you work. Swimmers are awesome.

Great job! What a tremendous boost to the program. I hope that the men follow on this path as well.


Does the men's program have full support from the A.D. now? When he was A.D. at Nebraska didn't he cut the men's program? Would he do that at A&M?

yes he did cut the men's program at Nebraska, but it is extremely unlikely that he will cut the program here, especially with t.u havin a program. The alumni would flip if he cut a program that was competing with "our friends from the state capital", as he likes to say.

The "official" story about the Nebraska men's swimming program was that they had huge internal problems with the team, maybe even recruiting violations. Byrne killed it because it was easier than fixing the problems. The college swimming community is skeptical of Byrne because of this. Not everyone believes his story. Many believe he killed it to save the money and use elsewhere.

I don't believe the official reason. But that doesn't mean he'll do the same thing at A&M. We have the 2nd best facility in the state, one of the best in the nation. Texas gets a lot of (deserved) publicity because they have produced Olympians (Hansen, Peirsol, Crocker), and Eddie Reese will be the Olympics head coach for the second time. Byrned screwed Holmes when Nash was fired because he gave Holmes a one year contract and publicly said Holmes had a year to earn the job. But the recruits stayed away because no one good would come here when the coach's future was uncertain. I think Byrne realized how stupid his decision was and gave Holmes a real contract. Holmes hired a quality assistant coach. He has been forced to recruit international the last two years but it is starting to pay off. We managed to get the 5A 50 free champ from last year (Casey Strange). Israel Duran is a fantastic swimmer from Mexico.

Keep in mind we are much further behind Texas than the Big12 scores indicate. Texas is saving their guys for the NCAAs and held back in the Big12s to keep the score down. Texas is staggeringly deep in freestyle, especially mid-distance.

I gotta believe the women's rise will help the men. We will get some national attention we didn't get before. It will be incredible if our women can finish Top 5 with the traditional powers of swimming like Cal, Stanford, and Auburn. Holmes' boys swam well in Big12s, which shows the training produces results. Hopefully some of the Texas high school kids will put A&M on their short list now instead of automatically disregarding us.

Good to hear. It appears that Holmes is a very good coach. Do you think that if the Big 12 grew some more that this would help A&M in recruiting (Iowa St. coming back?)? Anybody else on the radar?

As far as recruiting the state, does Texas get what they want and the rest leave the state or go to SMU? A&M has a tremendous facility so with a true commitment to the program that has to work to our advantage eventually. Right?

It seems that Bultman has proved what proper training and hard work will do for a program.

I think great things can happen for the men's program. Byrne just needs to leave it alone.

All I have is an opinion. So take what I say with a grain of salt.

I think if Iowa St. does indeed restore men's swimming, it has to help.

Texas is not competing with A&M now for male swimmers. Texas is competing with Auburn, Arizona, Stanford, Michigan, etc. A true stud swimmer (say, Olympic trials times already) in Texas is probably thinking who will get me to the Olympics? A&M isn't there yet. A&M has produced a few Olympians but they were Canadians.

I don't think there is a magic formula. It took Bultman 7 years to get to where we are now in women's swimming. Probably started with athletes just below elite. They trained hard and improved. Attracted a few more, slight better, athletes (Danielle Townsend, Rebecca Sturdy). We keep moving up in NCAAs. Team chemistry is apparently awesome. Then we start getting awesome swimmers with Trials cuts.

Holmes needs to keep at it. Swimming is also a sport where fractional scholarships rule since they only get 9.9. The roster is 20-30 kids so most have partial money at best. At Texas I would guess that just a few (Klueh, Berens) are close to full rides because those guys were NCAA-fast way before they were seniors in high school.

Byrne needs to continue to promote swimming. Make sure he never says anything stupid about Title IX pressure.

We're doing some cool things - like live video feeds of swimming. Very few schools do that, even the elite. I don't think Texas has at all. We need to keep it up.

"Holy S*****ies!" I had no idea the ladies won the BIG 12, and by a point in the last race... way to stick it to the sips.

Good job ladies!

(edit: are you kidding me? a quote from scooby-doo can't make the cut for texags?)

[This message has been edited by wee_ag (edited 2/21/2007 3:09p).]

Wow, had no idea all of that info about Neb swimming and Byrne.

Regardless, I am so thrilled about the women winning the Big 12. THe men have a ways to go and recruiting against the t-sips will never be easy when it comes to swimming, but I hope we can make some headway.

It's because you spelled Schnikes wrong

the women had a way to go at one point too but one monster recruiting class went a long way towards leveling the playing field

When is the signing date for the men and women? How is recruiting shaping up for A&M?

the women signed four in the fall...they only lose three girls...another Canadian all-star, a Texas 4A state champ, a Missouri state champ and one of the best long distance swimmers in the country in the class of '11 who will swim at a meet at A&M this weekend

Spicewood,

You mention that A&M has the second best pool in the state.............I happen to disagree with you and I actually think that A&M's pool is not only a better facility then tu's but a faster pool as well..............

What distance tu from most other major programs, is that they do not f*** around when it comes to hiring coaches............they hire the best. PERIOD!!
That is why they get the best swimmers...........along with that awesome pool that was built about 30 years prior to ours (and it is still a great pool and facility).........that is the difference!!

Andyv94 - The UT pool has a constant 9 ft depth, while A&M's tapers from 7 at the ends to 9 ft in the middle. The UT pool also has about double the seating capacity of the A&M pool. If you look at the USA Swimming website and look at fastest times in history - there are far more times recorded at Texas than at A&M. Some of that is clearly due to Texas hosting many more elite meets. Informal surveys in collegeswimming.com show that their members think Texas has a "better" pool. I believe the only material difference is seating capacity. Texas can host bigger meets so is more likely to get elite meets. Lets see what kind of times are swum in NCAAs in 2009. I bet they are fast.

I'm also well aware of Texas' history. I was a high school swimmer in Texas in 1976. Texas built their pool in 1977 and hired Eddie Reese shortly afterwards. That was the beginning of their run of dominance. A&M took forever to build the pool, didn't hire elite coaches, etc. We were satisfied with Nash for 25 years!

I never liked UT's bulkheads b/c I thought they were slippery. Both have overflow gutters, high saline water, all deep, and separate diving well. Unless you go back 20+ years and look at UT & Indianapolis, most top pools are pretty comparable these days. It usually comes down to personal preference. The one thing that puts UT head and shoulders above the rec center pool is the national championship banners hanging on the walls.

Regardless of Texas' pool vs. ours - the A&M pool is on the short list of best pools in the country, no matter what.

I watched the FSN broadcast of the Big12s last night. They shhowed too much diving, but it was good to see much of the meet. Josh Davis was the color commentator. Many of the women's races were VERY close. We came out the winner in all of these races. We now know that if one A&M swimmer had finished one place lower than they did, we would not have won. Sturdy's 100 fly was an example. Wilkinson's 100 back too.

Gotta say too that Wilkinson seems to be a very friendly and fun person.

Spice,

You are right about the massive over all size of the swimming complex, it is impressive. I am talking about the actual pool, not the stands (but I get your point, the pool is equally impressive). You also brought up a good point in regards to the fact that they have some incredible fast times on that pool, mainly due to its history and age and type of swim meets that they have hosted...........we will see what is in store for A&M once we start hosting bigger meets where everyone is shaved and tapered.

Here is a list of the types of events they have hosted.

U. S. World Championship Trials (2001)
U. S. Diving Junior Nationals (1997)
U. S. Long Course Championships (1993)
U. S. Indoor Diving Championships (1993)
U. S. Long Course Nationals (1990)
U. S. Olympic Swimming Trials (1998)
AIAW Nationals Championships (1981)
18 Conference Championships
Women's NCAA National Championships (1981, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2002)
Men's NCAA National Championships (1981, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2003)
Olympic Diving Trials (1980)
U. S. A. vs. U. S. S. R. Dual Meet (1978)
A. A. U. National Short Course Swimming Championships (1978, 1980)
A. A. U. National Diving Championships (1977, 1979)

Very impressive.

One of the problems with the A&M facility is that the Aggie Swim Club is only allowed to host three meets a year there. I was told this by one of the ASC coaches. She said A&M, which owns the pool, is hugely protective of student access to the pool. UT's pool on the other hand hosts probably a dozen non-college meets a year. When you look at the pool records posted there - you see names like Matt Biondi, Michael Phelps, etc.

I think A&M needs to loosen up the rules a bit. Let them compete for TAGS, more Grand Prix meets, etc. Expose more kids to A&M so they'll see what kind of swimming is done here.

Regarding the pool - some time ago I read somewhere that Nash regretted not making the pool 9 ft deep from end to end. It's fast in any case.

A&M held the 1998 U.S. Open and a World Cup meet, but both were SCM, which won't grab the attention of many people looking at records.

You are absolutely correct about A&M being protective of student access. I don't know if ASC is not allowed to host more than 3 meets or if they get 3 discounted rates a year, but there is some restriction. The water polo team (as a university supported non-varsity sport) is allowed to host 1 tournament per semester for free, then has to pay a ridiculous rental rate after that. I believe CWPA picked up the tab when we hosted nationals in 2003.

Anyway, International/National level meets sponsored by USS directly probably would be an easier sell on the A&M administration than an extra age group meet hosted by ASC.

I forgot... I think A&M also held SC TAGS there right after it opened in 1996 before it even had the seats in.

[This message has been edited by H2OPoloAg02 (edited 2/23/2007 11:05a).]

Byrne's email last week said they had 1300 people attending the last night of Big12 finals. That's a huge crowd for swimming.

As our profile goes up in NCAA swimming - I expect more and more non-swimming geeks will come out to watch the Ags race. Not like womens soccer, but enough to make it interesting.

I don't think Phelps has raced at A&M yet. Would love to see that happen.

I'll be there all weekend watching Sectionals. I'll ask my son which pool he likes better - Texas or A&M. He's been at A&M camp twice but has never raced at A&M.

What did your son think of the camp? How do you think it compares to some of the other camps...Stanford, Auburn, etc.?

I checked out collegeswimming.com the other night and those folks have taken notice of the women's program. Respect for Bultman and what he is builing.

Wilkinson is very cute!

I can't compare A&M camp to any others since my boys have attended no other. I have two swimmers in the family and both have attended A&M camp twice. Considered the Texas camp, but what we heard is that it is not as personal as the A&M camp. My boys enjoyed A&M camp a lot. They retain more when they are a bit older. A&M does an excellent job of managing and coaching the kids. Bultman and Boyd were the most visible coaches. Lots of help from the counselers - who are A&M swimmers. Kids come home with a coach voice over video tape above and below water.

When I was a swimmer, my parents used to send us to the Jack Nelson swimming camp out in Fort Lauderdale, FL. It was a lot of fun, but it was tough. Learned a whole lot of technique, being dedicated, etc.............

I went by the pool today and watched some of the men's prelims and was not too impressed by the times.............just my opinion. I think the fastes time I saw on prelims for the 500y was a 4:49? or so.................Juniors is a 4:34. What gives?

My sister and I went to Indiana, Michigan, and UT camps growing up and enjoyed them all. However, I don't know that I really retained a whole lot.

Do they still have juniors? I know they got rid of it when they created sectionals, then I heard that they brought it back a year or two ago. What's the story there? I always thought there was too much of a gap between sectionals and seniors, but juniors was getting too big once they split it into 3 different meets. Anyway, anyone know what the deal is now?

andyv94 - the really fast guys are in Austin tonight at the American Short Course championships. Some really good times at this meet - a standout is Kate Ziegler who swam a 4:34 500 yesterday. She broke Janet Evans' American record last year. You can find these times at the UT Swim Center web site.

Most of the really fast guys are preparing for NCAAs. The pros like Hansen and Crocker are getting ready for Worlds next month.

Sectionals is a step up meet for age groupers and a few college swimmers who want one last chance to achieve NCAA times.

That's what I figured.....................thanx.

What happens to the Aggie gals in this case?

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/14017.asp

I read a post about that in collegeswimming.com earlier today. Apparently what will happen is this:

1. The relays were not disqualified. So the Big12 championship standings are unaffected. We beat Texas in 4 of 5 relays (women). We were equally guilty of violating the rule. If all the relays were DQ'd somehow though, we would lose big points and Texas would end up winning the meet.

2. The relays were not DQ'd but the times are invalid. So the NCAA will not accept those times to decide whether or not we made it to NCAAs.

3. I suspect we were fast enough over the season to get to NCAAs anyways, otherwise we would have swum the relays again as time trials at the Sectionals meet over the weekend. We did not swim those relays again.

The men DID swim their 200 free relay over the weekend and did not improve over their Big12 time. The men were trying to get to their A cut.

Shame on the Big12, A&M, and the NCAA for not knowing the rule well enough to avoid the problem.

So the ACC, Big12, UNC, A&M, and the NCAA all screwed this up? How can something like this slip through the cracks? Somebody...everybody involved just dropped the ball?

The A&M men didn't make it anyway over the weekend and the women did not have to try again because they were already in? How exactly will it effect the women?

On page 9 of the NCAA rulebook it lists all the major changes in the book for each year; this rule was not listed on that page so I wouldn't jump A&M, the Big 12 or the ACC too hard; there are A LOT of people that missed this rule --- entire conferences worth of coaches and officials; the blame should lie with the NCAA for not doing a proper job of educating/making aware the people this somewhat hidden rule affected

This flub-up will not likely affect the women or men at all

I think the rule was changed/implemented in the fall of 2006. Obviously not well publicized.

We're lucky. But this will have some impact - we won't be seeded as well because our times at Big12s were the fastest of the year.

BTW - I saw Casey Strange (A&M freshman), swim a 20.29 50 free in prelims at Sectionals. I didn't stay for finals but he swam a 20.03 in finals. Very fast time for a freshman. I learned this weekend that A&M planned to redshirt him, but Ozzie Gardner was lost for the year because of an injury.