September 25, 2007
Coming off a history making season, the Texas A&M women?™s swimming and diving team hopes to continue their success with a 2007-08 schedule that is packed with perennial top 25 teams.
In addition to top 10 fixtures SMU and Texas, which annually appear on A&M?™s dual meet schedule, the Aggies have added a meet with two-time reigning NCAA champion Auburn. The Tigers, under the helm of new head coach Richard Quick, come to Aggieland on Jan. 12. Quick, who built dynasties at Texas in the 1980?™s and Stanford in the 1990?™s, will bring a revamped Auburn squad hungry to make its mark under a new, yet proven, boss.
To make things even more interesting, the match-up with the Tigers will be held in conjunction with the Aggies?™ annual dual meet against SMU, a team that has been a top 10 mainstay for many years. Last season, the A&M women defeated the Mustangs in a dual meet for the first time since 1986.
Another date to circle on the calendar will be the Art Adamson Invitational on Nov. 16-18. Though one of only three home meets this season, the Adamson Invite is the longest and arguably most important home meet of the season. It is at this meet that a large portion of the participants will try to acquire NCAA qualifying times. Achieving these standards would allow the swimmers to train harder for a longer period of time leading up to the NCAA Championships in March.
A&M will face Iowa State and Missouri in Ames on Oct. 20, the day after the Big 12 Relays, and Northern Arizona and North Texas in Dallas on Oct. 27 all in just the first month of the season.
After returning from a winter training trip to Barbados, the Aggies will face Rice in Houston on Jan. 11 with the much-anticipated Auburn/SMU tilt the next day. The Aggies will close their home schedule out by facing the University of Houston on Feb. 1 on Senior Day.
The Aggies hit the road for most of the season with tough meets anticipated against both rival Texas (Feb. 2) and LSU (Jan. 19), who had several breakthrough performances at last year?™s NCAA Championships.
A&M will get their chance to defend the Big 12 Championship in Austin from Feb. 27-Mar.1 while competing at the NCAA Championships at Ohio State on March 20-22.
The Aggies welcome back 24 letterwinners from last year?™s Big 12 title-winning team including a junior class who combined to score 140.5 of the team?™s 198 total points at the 2007 NCAA Championships. The team is further bolstered by Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Alia Atkinson (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) who returns for her sophomore season.
A&M returns a senior class that played a major role in winning the school?™s first Big 12 swimming team title. All six seniors have been major point contributors during their time at A&M with three earning All-American honors at some point during their first three years. The Aggies have also added 10 newcomers, including three new divers, to help make the team as deep as its ever been in its history.
The 2007-08 season will begin in Ames, Iowa, on Oct. 19 as the Aggies attempt to defend their Big 12 Relays title won a year ago in Nebraska.