03-18-2012, 11:43 AM
MT - with several records broken, is it your impression that the athletes have finally caught up to the speedsuit's artificial depression of swimming records?
Other question: In winning NCAA swimming championships it's really about having enough super-elite athletes to place in multiple finals and to assemble top 3 relays. The every day elite swimmers will win you dual meets and score in conference championships, but they drop out in the NCAAs. Not quite as pronounced as track& field as scoring is taken twice as deep, put pretty much the same concept.
It appears Cal has been kicking our butts @ nationals the last couple of years in men and women. Have they been having a string of exceptional recruiting success (like our O-line for 2012) or are they developing elites into super-elites with greater success?
Stanford swim coaching has been cutting edge for many years so I'd be surprised if that's been the difference. Is Cal just going through a cyclical happy time or does the Farm recruiting need a shot in the arm?
Other question: In winning NCAA swimming championships it's really about having enough super-elite athletes to place in multiple finals and to assemble top 3 relays. The every day elite swimmers will win you dual meets and score in conference championships, but they drop out in the NCAAs. Not quite as pronounced as track& field as scoring is taken twice as deep, put pretty much the same concept.
It appears Cal has been kicking our butts @ nationals the last couple of years in men and women. Have they been having a string of exceptional recruiting success (like our O-line for 2012) or are they developing elites into super-elites with greater success?
Stanford swim coaching has been cutting edge for many years so I'd be surprised if that's been the difference. Is Cal just going through a cyclical happy time or does the Farm recruiting need a shot in the arm?