Cavaliers on TOP?!?! - Women's NCAA Championship Preview

0:00Viscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds. Because progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more, plus you can count on their great customer service to help when you need it so your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Positive casualty insurance company and affiliates, potential savings will vary, not available on all states or situations. Welcome back to another episode of the DFL swimming podcast. Doesn't I are here today for the much anticipated women's 2026 NCAA swimming championships preview. Desi, are you fired up today? I'm fired up. I'm right. I'm right. I'm right to get this show on the road, man. So today, we got a good lineup.

1:00It's really, we're dead set focused on the biggest time of the year. We're going to take a look at some of the, you know, how the cut lines shook out this year for to make the meat. We're going to look at the, you know, the pre-scoring, some of the big races we got lined up and then put ourselves out there with some individual event winner predictions and the top 10 finishing order of the meat from a team perspective. We got Desi coming off a big Virginia age group state championship meats over the weekend, Desi. How do things shake out for the, for the Cavaliers? It was good, man. We placed a fourth place overall and then got first place in the medium team category on both the men's and women's side. So, you know, can't be, can't be too upset about that. It was a great meat. My dog still going crazy, but even more important was Casey got to go to Ireland. Well, I was, you know, suffering with the terrible air quality at a pool.

2:00Casey was, you know, walking around in a different country, enjoying himself. Casey, that was nice. Yeah, it was, it was good, you know, I just, from all the hard work we've been doing on the podcast, it's really just every once in a while, you really need to just get away from it, just remove yourself and that's really what I was doing. Kind of left things to Desi for a weekend is try to separate myself from the, the stress and the effort that I have to, we have to put forward to, you know, maintain the podcast. So, feeling, feeling refreshed, coming off the trip to Ireland and ready to, it's perfect timing. We're back and I get to now just jump right into, to NC. So, let's just get straight into it. So, the biggest storyline of the year at this point, as far as I'm concerned, kind of leading into this meet, both men's and women's is one, we've, we've talked about at night, at night and day, the new qualification process with automatic qualifiers out of conference

3:02meets. But really, what we're all interested in is how that was going to affect the, how was going to affect the difficulty of making the meet in general. So, let's just, let's just jump into that a little bit, does, were there any events that you saw that were, you know, big jumps for me there, you know, last year or swimsuit and put out a nice article comparing this year or even what the cut line was with the new qualification process versus what the cut line would have been this year if they had kept the old process. So, what would you see there? You know, I'm looking at the women's times right now and there's nothing that pops out to me is too crazy. On the women's side, actually, there were a couple of events that were a little bit slower, but I do know on the men's side, it was a little bit different. You know, I think breaststrokes were the same. Backstrokes were quite a bit faster. 50 freestyle ended up being sub 18, was 1889, which is pretty crazy.

4:03But you look at the women's side and I mean, the 150, 100 freestyle got a little bit faster, the 200 freestyle got a little bit faster, but like the 500, the 16 to 50 were going slower. The backstrokes were the same, breaststrokes were the same. 200 breaststrokes a little bit faster, but I don't know, kind of interesting to think about how, you know, a lot of people were freaking out how much faster it would be, but I know Casey mentioned this before the pod, but you know, you don't have the COVID years anymore, right? Like, what does that affect have to have to play with it? Yeah, I mean, I think there was a lot of discussion last year about that there was going to be a regression this year with how hard it would be to make them meet and with the departure of, I mean, a pretty large 50 or class in many respects that there was going to be a big gap of talent and depth to kind of be filled. And then I think a lot of people agreed that it probably would be slower.

5:03I wasn't so sure about that. I think each year, you don't plan on a cut getting slower from year to year, but with that being said, we also weren't planning on the whole qualification process changing. From the women's perspective, women's side though, I think one thing to factor in here as well is just how many athletes get invited to the women's meet versus the men's meet. So I think it's about 375 for the women's, not including relay only swimmers, and I think it's about 275 on the men's side. So it's about 100 laughs for the men. And so when you look at kind of how the new qualification affects the women's meet, I think you're going to see a little bit less of an effect just because there's so many more swimmers and there was already a decent presence of mid-major schools that the women's meet in the first place already. So is that, does that make sense to us? I think to me, the effect was just seen a little bit less on the women's side than the men's just because it's a little bit more of that spread out of you have a lot more

6:09mid-majors there, like you mentioned. Men's side, you'd maybe see a few trickled in there, but you obviously see a lot more. It was tough. It was very tough to me. I mean, the men's meet with, I mean, like we said, it's about 5 more people making each event in the women's meet versus the men's meet. So I mean, it seems small, but it's actually, I mean, it does make a big difference when you talk about a hundred extra swimmers making them meet. Well, obviously, we'll get into the men's, the men's, how that played out a little bit more in the next week's episode as we preview the men's meet. But overall, yeah, I think, I think for the women's side, I think it worked out pretty well. It does get a horse around, I think, a little bit about the popper. It's a crime scene right now. She's tore apart her freaking boy. There's stuff in there. To say that, Raya is not a fan of the podcast. Every time I start recording, she just starts going on psycho. Anyway, yeah, I would say, you know, you look at the women's meet and people are going

7:12to, people are throwing a fit beforehand about how much of a change it would be. And you look at the women's meet, it's not much of a change, but you do look at the men's and there is a big change. And I just wonder if people are going to react. I do think that something's probably going to change in the future of how they do these cuts. You know, does that the automatic qualifying time get a little bit faster? I don't know. That's probably my guess is where they're going to go with it. My guess is something will change in the near future. I would imagine I think there will be, we'll see, but I think really the easy solution here is rather than switch up the whole process again next year, just make the cut lines a little bit faster. I think it will probably leave people feeling a little bit better about the whole situation. So let's just move over to some of the more the team side and how many swimmers from each team, some of the big, some of the big teams, how many people were making it to the meet. So right away, I look at Virginia 18 swimmers and it's worth noting you get 18 or 18 athletes

8:16per team on your NCAA roster. Diverse counting is a half of an athlete. So you could have 17 swimmers and two divers. Technically, you have 19 athletes, but it nets to 18 there because of the diverse counting is half. Virginia 18, Stanford at 16, Texas at 15, Cal at 14, Louisville 12, Tennessee 11, then Florida, Michigan, Ohio State all with 10. Any surprises there does to you? Not at the top of my head, no. Virginia 18 is just kind of showing their domination that's probably going to happen. And then you know, the teams that you named with 10 plus in that territory are all the teams that you're going to see. They're going to be fighting for kind of that two through seven spot. What do you think? Interesting. I respect you. You got Michigan who is very much in the picture for podium for 10 swimmers and they're diving

9:21as a solid. They probably do. They get boosted a little bit from diving. Diving is not going to be in that, by the way. Right. This is all swimmers. We're looking at, I mean, they're basically neck and neck in the pre-scoring with Stanford who has six more swimmers than they do. I do think that Stanford could make a big jump here. We haven't really seen them perform as well as I think you and I both thought being in the air. I think you had some concern. I mean, I don't know. I mean, they have a good amount of girls qualified. But are they going to be able to show up at the big moment? I don't know. You kind of have to take that gamble. See what happens. I just think, yeah, I mean, we can, we'll get in this. I think just beyond Torrey Haaske, I think just the star power is lacking a little bit. I mean, they have Lucy Bell too. I mean, I just, I don't know. My thing is, I think they have star power. I don't think they have the relay sums that they need.

10:24Your best summer's Torrey Haaske, your second best summer's Lucy Bell and like outside of the breaststrokes, she's just really solid. She's a solid freestyle, but you don't have that relay depth that a UVA might have. A Michigan might have just that top speed that you're going to need for a 200, maybe a 200 free, a 400 free relay. I mean, really what they do have going for them, though, is I mean, they have, they're going to have a lot of swims with six newcomers, you're going to have potentially up to 18 more swims than a Michigan would with only 10 swimmers. And so that's where, I mean, if they do taper well, they do have the potential to, to make a jump there. So, um, beyond that, I think compared to previous years, I don't actually have the number is off the top of my head of, I mean, I know, I think we know for sure that Virginia has been basically maxing out the roster and not completely in previous years. Um, again, on the men's side to touch a little bit, we saw actually big changes in, um,

11:32the number of athletes qualified per team, um, compared to what we've seen in previous years. So that was, that was actually a big change here. I think still, I mean, we see teams well, well into the midteens, um, which are, which are, I mean, basically as big of a rush, versus you can have. Yeah. Um, also looking, looking at that scored out me, um, you know, I thought it was interesting how close it was to through seven. You have, uh, second place right now, predicted is Michigan with 334. Seventh place is Louisville, a 255. So you have, you know, those six teams are all within a hundred points of each other predicted score, which makes it for a really, really interesting team race that are going on for that second place position. Um, for sure. Yeah. Even I think you got Michigan and Stanford are slightly separated from, you know, fourth place, Texas, but from four from, I mean, feet theoretically, fourth place, Texas

12:37all the way to ninth with Alabama. You got a six, 70 point Delta there, which, I mean, that's not, that's not much, uh, and so that, that four through nine, four through 10 race is going to be really, really interesting, uh, to keep an eye on because those projections are, are, uh, they're tight, they're tight. Yeah. I think the biggest thing is when you look at those teams, which one of those teams, I think is going to kind of stand out as which one could steal relay from Virginia. Um, Virginias predicted 200 relay points, which means that they're seated first in every single one of them. And I think if you can steal that first place in one or two of those relays, whether you're Michigan, Stanford, Louisville, whoever you are, um, I think that brings a lot of momentum for your team. And that brings also a lot of points that you're not going to be getting in those, those are the relays. The other teams will not be able to get one thing that's shocking to me is when you look at NC State's currently projected to score with a side sheet 220 points and a 10 place

13:41Alabama is down to 89. So you have 150 points or more than 150 or 150 points drop off from 9 to 10, 9 to 10, which actually have no idea how it's possible. Uh, yeah, that's, uh, that's wild. We'll see how that plays out. Uh, I think then to get from the, the crucial top 10, there's a lot of, there's a lot of teams close, uh, Alabama, Ohio State for a USC Wisconsin who are within 10 points there and adjust outside the top 10. So, um, I don't know, we'll see, uh, USC, return of Mina Abraham, it will kind of shape as she going to be in, as she gets pushed them over the top, we'll see, we'll see in the predictions. For assuming that she was sick, they say if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together at Amica Insurance, we know what matters most. And we work even harder to protect it together, as a mutual insurance company, we're built

14:49for our customers and prioritize your needs. Amica, empathy is our best policy, visit amica.com and get a quote today. And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. But even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show, hey, everyone, check out this guy in his bird. What is this your first date? Oh, no, we help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Ah, meet a human, him to a bird. Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways. Only pay for what you need at Liberty Mutual.com. Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, uh, during big times, I don't think we ever heard. Did we? Yeah, we know, I don't think we ever got a confirmation there, but it's probably safe to say that she was sick or something, um, just probably, yep, exactly. So she's, she's up there. So let's get into just a little bit of those and preview some races.

15:49Um, so we just got a little, a little discussion about the team battle, a little bit, another piece of maybe just like, I don't know if it's the meat structure. It plays into the team battle, I think, crucially, um, just read an article, uh, so with the new structure, you're going to have only the top eight seated relays swimming in the night session, um, NCAAs and all other relays will swim in the morning session. Um, interestingly though, and I, I mean, it does make sense. All relay cards have to be submitted at the same time, whether you're swimming, you're swimming, uh, the relay in the morning or in the night. And so I think that actually does make a difference for some teams that, you know, like to see a prelim swim or a final swim for that matter to kind of know what, which swimmers are hot and which ones maybe should not be on the relay. You're not actually going to have the prior knowledge to make some of those decisions.

16:51We have seen it many a time, um, in big meets where you're going to see someone thrown on that relay, not too far before the relays actually swam, um, I mean, I've had it to happen to myself before, um, at big times where I wasn't on a relay in that session when it, the final session when it started and then in that break before the relay started, I was put on a relay and had to be ready to go. That decision now has to be made in the morning, um, you think that's going to make a difference for people or I do think it will, like you said, you got to ride the hot hand. I think most of the relays, especially those top teams, like that's already decided. I think for the most part, like your Virginia's, your Stanford's, your Louisville's, your, your cows, they, they already know what their relays are going to look like, especially probably before the session, but I also think those, those top teams are also the ones that have options of people that they could swap in. I mean, some of these, sure, I just think that going into the meet, they already know

17:51it was going to be almost three days now, something could change, but like after that first day, you're going to know who's something wrong, who's not going to be a something wrong. Right. You're going to know who's on who's not. So could it affect that first day relay on Wednesday, sure, you're not going to be changing relay. Well, yeah, but I mean, you're not going to be changing relays on Thursday, like you're going to have to go with your gut in the morning, but I think after that day for Friday, Saturday, you already know who's hot, who's not, who's going to be on those relays. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, no, just, I mean, in a way, I think it may be, it's can sometimes be good for the swimmers to at least know what, what the expectate. I mean, there's when there's uncertainty and, you know, coaches don't know what they should do. I think might just be beneficial to swimmers to at least know who's on who's not, but, I almost think the B final, having the B final only in the morning and not having that actual B final at night almost affects it just as much because you might have someone

18:52who, you know, maybe was predicted a between A, B, like maybe they're sitting in the eighth or ninth spot and they just miss out on a final and maybe they were supposed to swim before I am and you want them on that 400 medley relay or whatever. I don't remember if that's the same day anymore, but you might want them on that relay and you're not sure if they're going to make that A or B final and then missing that A final might want you to put them on that, on that relay at night because they're going to be a little bit more fresh, but you're not going to have that chance of any more opportunity at all. Yeah, well, I guess it depends when and I would actually probably assume that the relay cards will be due at the conclusion of the prelim session. I'm guessing there will be some sort of probably right before the previous one. So you're probably going to be able to see you would be able to know that at that point, like, okay, if you have someone, a sprinter, whatever, I don't know, this someone doesn't make the A final the two back and there could be situations where if someone didn't make the A final, then you'd be able to throw them on a relay knowing

19:54that's their only swim at the final session. We'll see if that actually happens. I would be shocked if that would put me like, if you had someone make an A final, you probably also want them on a relay. It probably wouldn't make that decision just because they take off just because they made an A final, but that I mean, that is an interesting change that maybe coaches wouldn't have certainly didn't have to deal with that in the past and had the flexibility to change things up if they wanted to. Really has changed a lot in the past, you know, five, six years. There used to be people that don't remember. There used to be preemptive finals in those as well. Yeah, that would that would have been rough. No, no. I was diving to some of the races. Some of the some of the big the marquee events of the week. Does what did you what did you kind of have on your list?

20:56One of the most big ones. Interesting ones I thought was the four I am actually. There are going to be four girls that are already seated with sub four minutes in the four and I am. Which I believe is the most ever. You have Bella Sims, Lucy Bell, Caroline Bricker, Katie Grimes, all at under that sub four minute barrier. With Ella Jansen, Amy Cannon, not terribly far behind at 401 high, 402 low. That's a pretty crazy, you know, quad feed right there at those four girls. And I think that's going to be a really, really interesting race. That could come down to that last 50. No, absolutely. I'm just pulling up here in the side sheet too. But we'll get into the predictions for the event winners. But that one could be interesting because I would admire it. It's usually pretty safe to say those top four to eight seats generally speaking.

22:00Kind of swam through a conference relatively speaking. They're more than likely we're already locked in for the meetup. It's always interesting. And not easy to say who has the most potential to drop more time. I'm looking at Bella Sims who had a huge big tens meet. Sometimes it can be hard to replicate that high energy of a meet. And that repeat it in that short of a time. I do also think that, I mean, the four I am is, in my opinion, one of the most fun events to watch. Just because it's long enough where it's not a sprint, a total sprint. And everyone has a different strategy, right? Like if you're a brushstroker, it may be really strong. And the free step of your distance free style or just has anaerobic capacity. Maybe you're a really good flyer and backstroker. And you just have that that lead at the beginning. Everyone Sims it a little bit differently.

23:00But all these girls are going to end up relatively around the same time, which is pretty cool. Yeah, that should be an absolute storm. So it starts with final there. And hopefully, I mean, even just some of the swimmers here, you're going to have, you know, Katie Grimes who, I mean, I'm sure she'd probably agree is not a good brushstroker. And Lucy Bell, who is a stunt. And so there's this see kind of that race dynamic play out where you got Katie Grimes who is going to be charging hard to the end. And obviously Bell Sims is relatively even across the board. Probably better fly and fly back. But she'll be it she'll be out how hot I'm probably allowing Katie. So that would be a really, really good one. I think next on the list, we got we got 100 fly. And it's it's two names on this one, Tori Husk, Clark or Zan. Yeah, um, this will be an interesting battle. A lot of these swims that you're going to see that we're talking about are

24:01swims that have already happened. Sometimes they're battles that have already happened. This is the first one of those. We saw the ACC's Husk came out on top with the 4826 and Clark or Zan was second with the 4847. And I really think that Claire looked a lot better at ACC's than Tori did. And it's kind of like what does Tori have left and what does she have to give is she going to drop a lot of time and just Claire have a lot left in her system. Whereas she kind of all in for that meat. And I highly doubt she was all in for that meat. But is she going to be able to take down Tori? Yeah, I mean, I would say for sure in the situation of Claire, it's hard to rule. I mean, she looks scary good. So that's that's ACC's. So that was, I mean, when we look at the predictions here in a little bit, it's hard. It was very hard to pick against a Claire or Zan because of the performance that she put

25:05forth at ACC's, but at the same token, like you mentioned, I think Tori maybe left a little bit to be something to be desired. Still got the win in the 100 fly. But we'll see, I really, I think Claire, this will be her hardest one. If she's looking for three, three event win meat, this is going to be her, her top is test. My thing is, you know, she chose the 100 fly, right? Well, she could have sent the 53. Which she also would have been seated like one or two in as well. But she did not, you know, step away from the battle against Tori again, which tells me that she's confident in herself with abilities. Yeah, women's honor breast. We got a three headed battle here. I would say, no, you theme of need of a Tadaho and Anastasia Gorbaco. I think all these ladies have been 56. Am I speaking out of line there? Your girl Gorbaco has not been.

26:05Come on, that's, I mean, it's basically a given. No, she'll be 56. But this would be a good one. I think that, like I've said, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to back on Estasia again. I think she's still, she's still putting in more swims, more meats in the short course pool and has a lot of upside down, a lot of upside here coming in and see is who, I mean, I guess we won't have to spoil the predictions yet. But what are kind of the indicators that you see in this one of the way it could go? Uh, I mean, half of Mova is kind of an on one this year. But, you know, we've seen the half of a Gorbaco, you know, clash at ACC's, but now you throw Batazo in there, you know, is that something that she's the only other girl? It's been a 56 out of side outside of half of Mova. But I really think it comes down to those three. Obviously, you know, don't count out Soroki or Emma Weber, who have both been within a second

27:06of the top time 56, 77. But I do think it comes down to those three. And I think it's going to be an absolute dog fight. Yeah, I don't know, I, some reason I'm getting a weird feeling. I don't, like, I, just for some reason feel like one of these three is, is going to have on it like this kind of a stinker. I don't know. I feel like one of them is going to, there's going to be one taper that gets, that gets bombed. Yeah, there might be a 56 low coming in. Now what you're saying? No, I'm saying like a 58. No, you think it's going to be a 58. I think one of these girls, I see. There will be the winner. I think will be 56. I think mid to low. But I'm just saying I think, I don't know. For some reason, I just, I, we'll see, we'll see if they all, they'll repeat. I could see if Soroki kind of stepping in there. But we'll see, I, there's not a specific name that is just like, is just, they're feeling in the air. You know, if you're going to say one, probably, you're probably looking at the freshman who's never done this before, the back-to-back meets. But, um, who knows?

28:08Have him always been on one this year? I could also see that happening as well. You know, Emma Weber's Olympian, Soroki had a really, really long course season. And maybe she's kind of saving something up for, for, for NCAAs. Yeah, I think there's a lot of questions on that, that Tennessee women's team too. I think there's a lot of talent. And we'll see how they, they've, uh, they didn't have like a, a lights out, SEC's. So I think they probably are crying for a good, um, and sees women's 200 breasts. Lucy Bell and he canny. Yep. That again, another battle we saw at ACC's. Um, and it really came down to that last 25. Lucy Bell beat her by point three. I believe, yeah, two to nine, um, but I remember watching that live. And Amy canny was going her down. I think you had five more yards and she probably would have gotten her. Um, so I think that battle is going to be really, really cool. Gorbanko's the three seed in that with a two or five. So you're really just looking at those two for the win. Can one of them, you know, which one of them is going to come on on top

29:12and can one of them take down, honestly, like, I don't think Kate Douglas's record is too far below that is either that's, it's not out of the question. You want that to double low? Two or one? I think it's two or one. Two or one. Okay, yeah, that sounds about right. I mean, that's interesting. Um, two seniors who want to head to head here. I think I'll come back up pretty cool. At Amika Insurance, we know you'll always find ways to look out for the people you love. And with Amika Life Insurance, we'll help build a plan to make sure you always can. We're here to help protect the life you've built. Amika, empathy is our best policy. Visit Amika.com and get a quote today. Nicole hosts Easter every year. That's why she shops at BJ's wholesale club, stocking up on spiral ham, baked goods, fresh flowers, candy, and five dozen eggs. I've got a lot of baskets to fill.

30:12Nicole's not worried because she knows she can save big and get it all done in one trip. It's like when in the Easter egg hunt? When you save everyone wins. Get a $15 digital coupon when you spend $150 in one transaction now through April 5th. Visit BJ's.com slash Easter coupon for details. BJ's your Easter destination. Thank you. It's interesting how different. I mean, we do see this in the men's brushstroke as well. But like, I mean, feel, Gorbaco is obviously back in there, but she's pretty far out of the picture at this point. It's like a completely different, I mean, Lucy Bell aren't present in the 100 press. So it's just interesting. I think Lucy calls me, but I think she's like a 58. Just salt. Yeah, so I mean, you look on like the men's side. You got Nate German press who has potentially gone in for the win in both the 100. And you just don't have that this year on the women's side. Fifty free. And this is, I think this is one of the tightest,

31:13deepest fields here. We have 120 points seated. Camille Spank, 20.9, 20.8. Coming in. And after that, it's tight. It's very, very tight. Yeah, you have, you know, Tory Huss, 21.0, who did not swim to ACC's. She decided to swim the 51st out all over the 200. I am, which was a little surprising. She had the opposite ACC's. She obviously liked how she felt in the 50 and thought she could take it. Brady Kendall and Sarah Curtis, both at 21.0s. And then, you know, don't count out Julia Dennis and a Moche at 21.2. Eva Carl at 21.2. And you kind of drop off to 21.4 after that. I think it comes down to the top four girls. I think comes down to Spain cost Kendall and Curtis. But again, don't count out Dennis or Moche. Yeah, I, I mean, women's 53, especially with the departure of a grouch,

32:16Grouch and Balsch, I think really opened up again this year. And so it'll be really interesting to see, we haven't seen Tory Huss. I mean, I think she was, she was, I don't know what, I can't remember off the top of my head what she was on their 2-3 relay at ACC's. But I think my 21.0, but I mean, I could see Tory Huss being 20.6 also for 21.5. Like, I very well could see that and not be terribly surprised. So we'll take a big drop of, uh, yeah, I don't know. I see 20.6, 20.5 taking the win here probably with. So we'll see, you know, that's going to be a big performance. Yeah, I think it's going to take something really, really fast to, to take this event down. But I don't know, it's going to be a fun one. We'll talk about it. I'm already sitting here like reviewing this event. And I'm like, uh, I have to, I have to review my prediction. So I was just looking, Tory Huss was 20.6, um,

33:17the real, uh, but she was going second. Yeah, Katie had an interesting prediction for this event. See if it changes about a time we get to the predictions list. I'm all about the outsiders, I'm all about the outsiders. So when you go over the men's side, it's like, it's, uh, it's a, it's a Josh Lee, I know automatic wins. That's like on the women's side, you've got to have some parody on that. All right, we got a couple more here. Women's Hunter free, um, double on it up there. An emotional Tory House Commitle spank, Sarah Curtis, some of the same hitters, but I would say an emotional is much more in the picture. And definitely more in the picture for the win. Um, her hundred and three style look just freaking lights out this year. She has not missed at all. I don't think, uh, 45, seven for Moche, 45, seven for Husk, spank, six, oh, Curtis, six, oh, and then Liberty Clark at 46, two.

34:18I do think it comes down to Moche, Husk, spank and Curtis, though. Yeah, I agree with you there. I think, um, once again, here. I don't know, like I, I, I, Tory, Husk, I just, there's, I have a lot of questions of like, if I was a bed or like early, I want to be like, oh, yeah, probably Tory to the moon here. I, but we just don't, I feel like we're missing some answers to what, where she's at this year. And so she, she, she has a brand new coach, like this, she's in a brand new coach. We have no clue. We've not seen him rest her down at all. We have no clue how her body's going to react. How well she's going to do? How much she's going to drop me? She's going to be amazing. She's Tory Husk. But is there a big drop in hand? We don't know for, I think the biggest question mark from this field, as well as the 50 is Sarah Curtis, um, a freshman who's been really fast this year. But again, we have no clue how fashion can be. She's one of those foreigners that has just, she's one of those foreigners locked onto the scene.

35:23I'm better every time she touches the pool. But I don't know if she has it enough to win either of those offense. I guess we'll see. Yeah. I think that, um, we'll have answers early. I mean, we have to throw out the predictions now. But, you know, you have Tory Husko 20.6 in a 53 style. More than likely, pretty clear that you can win this, this hunter free in like 45 low. Um, but we just don't know at this point. So you got to, you got a, you got a gas. I guess if, uh, who's going to, who's going to be on it? Who's not? So last, last event that we got, um, there's a keep one to keep an eye on two women's to fly. It's got a hand of, a hand of a large, um, uh, stole. Was it, was it what? Campbell Campbell. I was kind of, I was thinking Kendall, um, and Alex Shackle. Um, this will be an interesting one. I think they're all, what's the seat? What are the C times looking like here?

36:24150.3, 150.6, 150.7. Ballard stole Shackle in that order. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's very, very tight. Very tight. Um, I think that Shackle is an interesting one. I, I, I can hear C, C. I think Campbell's soul is going to be really good. Um, Ballard and Shackle, I could both see potentially having a, having a little ad here. Um, I don't know what's telling me that again. It's just something in the air. Uh, do you, what do you, what do you, what do you see here? I think Shackle's a similar, similar to Husk. I mean, we don't necessarily know. We think she's training with her club team. She might be training with IU. Uh, we don't know who she's been on and off. She started in January. She's not been something the whole year. Have no clue. She's going to react to, you know, is it Ray Luz taper? Um, is she going to have, she kind of had a

37:28okay big tense? Is she going to bounce back and, and some really, really well at and enceobalais? We don't know. I think there's a big question mark there. So I think it does come down to Ballard and stole for sure. Yeah. So with that, I think it's predictions time. I think it is. There we go. Women's 1650. Fortunately, we're going to start off with a, um, doesn't that we're on the same page here? Um, Joanne Cox, I think it's, it feels clear. She's about 15 seconds clearer the rest of the field. Um, so it's going to take, it's going to take a miracle, folks. Uh, Kenny Dobson's the next, um, next lady up, next closest, then Grimes after that. Um, I think you're, if you're going to look at someone, let's go challenge, right? I think Grimes has the talent to do it, um, but we have not seen her be 15, 13, the volume to back it up. We'll see it. I think we've seen, I'm sure that Virginia recognized that, that was somewhat of a potential issue, um, last year.

38:31Um, she's the greatest year though. So I, no big time. Yeah, big time. She could do 1530 and I would not be surprised. Okay. Yeah, no, I think, but that's, it's really tough. Two, two go against, um, Gillian Cox to take the win day one. Women's two men, Relay, and this one, we're going to, this, we're going to start to see a little trend here from, from Des. Um, he's, he's really, he's really shameless with, with these, uh, Relay picks. Uh, do you, do you care, do you care to tell us, Des? What do you, who do you got in the next two men? Why would you do both, Relay's here and I kind of explain where I'm thinking. Uh, two men of the eight free, I actually had UVA for both of them. Um, KC, who'd you have? I had the Louisville Cardinals in the women's 200 medley Relay and Virginia as well. In the eight free Relay, I think an eight free is really hard to, uh, it's hard. I mean, I, I don't have how many seconds clearer.

39:33I think, yeah, yeah, it's going to be a tough ask. And when you start looking at the names that are likely going to be on that Relay again and a mosh, uh, kid grams, it's going to be a tough one. Uh, I'm not sure if he'll be on it. You think? I wish he was. She wasn't out of the ACC. She wasn't. Okay. Mosh, Kenny, Mintenko, and Cavern. Well said. All right. Well, I guess we'll see. Um, has it, I mean, maybe I'm, yeah, I'm, I might, I feel like it's been like, uh, what? Like four, or sorry, I think 42, I think those other girls have all been 141. One, one, one, five, stop. Which is ridiculous. Yeah, that's tough. Let's see. This is so when I was looking at Relays, I was like, I have to pick one Relay UVA. Can't win, right? Like when you think it past years, they've always, there's always been one Relay. They haven't won because you can't stack every single Relay.

40:34And I was looking at their lineups for this night one. Like which Relay, I'm gonna, am I gonna pick against them? Both of their top seeded two medley and eight free Relay. Don't have a single summer that has crossed over. And past years, you could only put Gretchen on one of the other. You can only put Kate on one of the other. Alex usually go on one of the other. They don't have that issue this year. You know, they have four separate summers for each Relay. And that really maybe just take them for both because I don't really see them losing. I don't, I don't know. Maybe in that two, two medley, I think would probably be that the one that they would lose out of any of them. That's probably the best chance. I mean, two med Relay, Louisville was 132-2. Virginia was 131 night. And I mean, you looked at something. The star is kind of aligned for that Relay. So I'm putting myself up there a little bit with that one. But we have seen Virginia not drop in Relay's at MC's in years past. I think they have not. I mean, I think we've seen a lot of MC,

41:35I almost more NCAA records broken from them at conference compared to MC's. So we'll see. It could be, it could be an open one there. Tennessee is not too far out of the picture. 132-8. And that's a full second drop off. Then Stanford. Seated fourth. All right. Let's move to day two. Women's Hunter fly. I have Curesan. I don't know if the title of the coin. I'll take Huston. I think Huston, we talked a little bit. I mean, it's just going to be on. I think she's going to be on. I think she'll, she's going to take this one over Curesan. I think she's going to be on too, which is kind of crazy. I'm saying Curesan. I for some reason have a feeling that Curesan's going to have another, she's going to have another meat. And it's going to be like the meat of her life. I just think that everything has been trending towards that. And you know, it was hard for me to pick her over Hust, but I just have a weird feeling about it. I see this one being 47,

42:36the 47, 64, 7, 7 range, 47, 8-ish. But maybe we'll be surprised. I don't know. Maybe it couldn't even be faster. I don't know. I could see both of these ladies dropping a lot of time here. It should be, I mean, when you get to do a race like that, I mean, that could be dangerous. Women's 4 IM, which was one of the, one of the ones to watch here. Those four names. I took, I got Bella Sims. No, I think that's why I'm not Bella. I think you could take, I think you could take any of them. And I think they're going to win. I think I got Bella Sims revenge to her this year. And then she's going to go taunt the Florida Gators after she wins. I could see it. She's going to go to the Gator shot. At least sick. Yeah, we'll see about that, that, that, that hunter breast Lucy Bell puts up. She's going to be down big after the, at the 200. So we'll see.

43:38Let's do it. All right, next two or three. I picked the only girl that's been under 140 and a mosh. And I took the not present. Meena Abraham, baby. She's coming out. People are going to sleep it on her big time. Really, I hate my, I hate my, my T's. She was so, yeah, midseason. She was my sleeper of the year. Yeah, she was, I think it is easy for people to forget how good of a season she was having. Then, for her not to be over. No, exactly. Yeah. And so for the her not to be present at, and they're at big tens of seer, I think probably left people forgetting about her old, but so we'll see. I think, I think there's potential there for hers to have a really big meat. Assuming she wasn't out of the pool or not practicing for too long of a period of time. At Amika Insurance, your time and peace of mind matter. Bundle your auto and home coverage with us and enjoy savings that make life a little easier.

44:40As a mutual insurance company, we're built for our customers. We prioritize your needs and are here for you when you need us. Amika, empathy is our best policy. Visit Amika.com and get a quote today. Individuals on day two. Come on. I have to take our bank all the way all the way. What do you got? Yeah, we're both sticking to our guns here. You took our bank. We took it ACC's. I took Heffa Mova. I came on on top there. I think we're both just sticking to our guns and saying, let's see what happens.

45:41I didn't seize. We'll see what happens. Women's 200 free relay. I mean, basically pass a silver for des. We know who he's picking. And I'm unfortunately going to match there with the UVA. This one's a tough ask to. UVA is a full second and a half clear in a 200 free style relay. So it's going to be more so an NCAA record watch compared to who's going to win in my opinion. There are about a tenth, a tenth off the NCAA record after ACC's. Going on to day three. Another one of our kind of locks here is the 100 backstroke. Gotta be clerkers and gotta be clerkers and you'll see that again later like her backstroke has been on one. I don't really see her losing it. Yeah, no, it's I mean, I could see her. I think it's I think it's NCAA record watch again.

46:44I see her potentially on 47, 9, 47, 8. Yeah, I mean, the girl who's been just ridiculous. Second fastest time in the nation this year. I think his bell won. I don't even think she's in it. No, she is actually. She is 49-1. I mean, you know, you could be looking for an add-on upset there. I think they were neck and neck and bit season when they stand that against each other. But I just don't see Krizan losing that. I mean, that's crazy. I didn't even realize Mina Abraham is also something in the 100 back. 50.9, not bad. Got cooking. Okay. Women's 200 breast. Another one to keep an eye on, Des. I took Amy Canyon. I didn't know whether to take her Lucy Bell. KC. Take me there, Des. You take Anastasia Corbaco, baby. I'm back. Corbaco's down. Corbaco's down. She's Johnal. Bomb. We are going to score out our predictions, by the way.

47:46So, um, as of right now, I am up on KC at SEC's ACC's and Big Ten's. It's looking like I'm going to be up on Anastasia boys too. This kid is no fun. It's every single session. He's just taking the top seat on a pillow. No, no, says you buddy. I know how to get to Des. Let's just keep that in mind, people. I live rent-free in the, uh, the, the off-off air, DMs with Des. Um, 500 free. I have dobson who got out touched by Cox at SEC's, but I think she's going to pull it through here. I mean, she's at a great year. So, it's a tough one to turn against, but she's also trapped ton of time this year. So, how much longer can it keep going? I'm going to take another interesting pick here. I got Claire Weinstein. I think that she has the talent to be there, but just hasn't necessarily shown at this.

48:46I think how far out is she, um, seed-wise, she is six for the 434, but I don't know. I just don't see, I don't see it being impossible. That she just for ACC's turn me off so much. She wouldn't like 439. It's not great. Let's call it what it is, but I, yeah. I don't know. You, it's hard to, I think, uh, Dave has really done a good job of getting that women's team kind of back on track. Um, and so, who knows? Maybe Dave Dernan's known for, you know, that guy knows how to do a good taper. So, we'll see. He, uh, we could, we could see something special. I'm, I don't rule it out dance. Don't rule it out. All right. We're on city free. Um, there's tight. This is my first hot take of the meat. Um, I kind of just threw her in there just to have a little fun take. I said, Sarah Curtis. Uh, Ben 210 have no clue if she's going to be 215 or 20.5.

49:50And I think that's kind of fun. 215 or 245 from 53 South folks. You hear her first. Uh, I got husk. I, I had took her in the 100 fly and I think if she's on, then it's hard to take. Not, not take her here. So, um, you know, taking spink is crazy. That's tough. Yeah, that's crazy. She's, yeah, she's gonna, she's going to silence. She's going to silence us. Probably, um, format relay. We can just pass over it. Yes. You, you're via to the moon. I think format relay. They are four seconds clear. Um, so once again, it's going to be more of a question of NCAA record watch. Versus are they going to win the events? Uh, it's, it's really kind of unfortunately, um, put away. Maybe barring DQ, of course. That's where those events you could probably just put your, your B-teamers on and still win it sadly. Yeah. And that's, there's stuff there. All right.

50:50So let's, let's, let's move into the last day here, uh, day, day four. 200 I am. That's why, did you, what's going on here? I'm actually going to change my pick. Oh, I can't do it. I can't do it. Like Casey changes pick in the 53 style. He originally had an emotional. I'm going to change my additional pick. I'm going to change my pick in the tour. I am. I'm going to take Tignor Del. Oh, okay. Give me a fresh picture count. Wow, that's a, that's a picture. That's a picture right there. I actually, I'm going to go, uh, we're going a little bit more, the safer route, um, where, uh, uh, I'll take me and my West. Um, but maybe I don't know. I'm almost time to take Urbanko. Now that does move off that pack. So you might as well. I have a lot of big ties. So just go for the triple crown at this point, um,

51:51but I'll stay with West. Uh, I think she's right there in the hunt. Um, it's funny. I'm taking not Urbanko in the one event that she's seated first. And probably is the, the largest. Oh, man. What am I doing? Um, whatever. You got to stick with your guns. Yeah. 200, 200 fly. No, 100 free. That's how, sorry, 100 free. Um, I'm going to be talking about how good of a meat that Husk is going to have. And I'm going to, I'm going to go speak. That's crazy. Husk is going to get three, but I'm not picking her for the 100 freeze. I think by day four, she's going to be completely out of steam. So it's, it's got to be silly. It got day four. It's got to be. You know, I said the same thing for Lucy Bell. I was like, she's going to be on one. She's, you know, winning the four I am. That didn't happen for the 200 breast. Here's how this is going to play out for me. Gorbanko's not going to win the 100 or 200 breast and win the four to I am. Yeah. And then, and then Husk is not going to win the 50 free or 100 fly.

52:55That's all win the 100 free. So that's how it's going to happen. I think most she's going to come on on top again. I think that's kind of a sweet spot for a hundred two and free. Yeah. No, she's, she's, she's, she's a stud there in that the 100 free two and free. So that's good pick. Two fly. I took Campbell Stoll. I think she will be a bright spot for the line horns here. The line side joining Cox. But yeah, I think, I think she's had a great year. Very consistent and is probably prime for a good one here. I took the Hannibalard. Those Michigan Wolverines and I'm going to have a pretty good meet. And I think she's taking that to fly. Good call. Skip over this next event. Not a lot of big 10 winners here. If I'm, no, stay. Yes, you're Michigan. Yeah, yeah. Um, skip over two back to, we can skip over two back and for free.

53:57Actually, yeah, I'm sorry. Two back got to be Kersan. She broke against the record at ACC. I think she's going to have to beat her away. I'll say it again. I'm getting a hate crime if you didn't take it in the, in the two back, I think. Catch up with Casey. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't need to talk about that, does. Um, for free real ad. Tell them, tell them case. Stanford. Although Tory Hustle is going to choke in the 100 free, she's then going to go on and produce. The fastest slip of all time on the more free real ad. And will the Stanford Cardinals the victory? So, um, I took UVA. They just broke the NCAA record. I don't know how they're going to lose that one. I think that's another event. What do they see it first by in that one? That's like a second or two, unfortunately. Two seconds. Yeah, two seconds.

54:58Oh, yeah, I'll take, I'll take the Cavaliers, I guess. Yeah, yeah. So, Dez, let's just keep this in mind, folks. Dez actually took Virginia in all five relays. So, talking about that as loyalty is where elsewhere, but now he's a UVA homer, um, so it's really tough to see it. I really try to look for every that they would lose, guys. I could not find one. See, I might be down on my prediction success through conference season, but I'm just a man of the people. I don't, I don't, uh, I search for that underdog that, you know, that success story that Dez just refuses, they refuses to see it. No, no rebuttal for me. I like to win, man. That's all I know. Oh, man. All right, well, that's the individual predictions. Um, so let's do, let's do the, let's do the teams. I'll, I'll lead us off here. I got UVA. It's, it's done in dusted folks. They're even if they score 100 less points than they're projected. They're still going to win the meat by 100 points, um,

55:58barring something ridiculous. I'm going to go with the, the 10 man roster, um, they're going to, they're going to, they're going to dig deep and pull it out Michigan. Second, Stanford, third of a far departure for my preseason predictions, where I actually was hopeful. Stanford could pull something out this year. It's not going to be a case. They're going to drop down a third, take Louisville fourth after, you know, almost a, a Gore-Banko triple crown. I'll take Texas fifth led by, uh, still, still in Julian Cox. I will take Tennessee seventh. Cal, or sorry, sorry, Tennessee six, Cal seventh, NC state eighth, IU ninth, and then, um, when me to Abraham comes back and establishes her greatness again, USC is going to slip in there for 10th. Um, my predictions now. I have UVA one. I think Stanford with their, their 16 man roster, woman roster, sorry, sorry, the folks out there are going to go number two. Uh, I think they're going to have a little bounce back. Me in Michigan three, Texas four, who I, Texas two at the beginning of the year.

57:04I got them sliding down, Cal five, Louisville six, Tennessee seven, Indiana eight, NC state nine, I have Ohio state 10th. I think they're going to get some relay points. All right, there you go, folks. I think we actually, it will be interesting to see how we, these, uh, these team predictions play out because we, we are differing a little bit, not, not too much. Um, we got, you know, I got, does got Cal two spots up. I think, you know, I, I just like to kind of contradict myself just to cover my bases, especially when, you know, like, me, West, and Claire Weinstein are, have great needs, but I'm actually, I'm actually going to move down. Right. Yeah, do you know if you realize you're something? Exactly. Yeah, no, the individual success is going to be great. Just going to tease you because I'm realizing that's just kind of the, I'm a visionary, um, it's really what it boils down to. But, um, I think that does it, folks, for the preview pod. Uh, I hope everyone, I'm sure everyone's just as excited as we are to watch us meet this week and see how it plays out.

58:08I think there's the potential for a number of NCAA records, especially after a year, last year, where you had, you know, the Gretchen Wolishes of the world, Alex Wolishes, um, who honestly sent a lot of records that people thought would stand for a while. We see relay records already being broken, um, some individuals who are, they're not too far out. So, um, I think Desi and I can both say it's going to be a great one. Any, any, uh, final, final comments from, from Desi tonight? You know, we've been waiting for this all year. It's finally time to go, um, excited for it. Casey. I'll have a good NCAA season. It's finally here. Over to it. It's, it's Christmas. It's Christmas in the swimming world. It's, um, um, we will catch you in the next one with the, uh, women's NCAA recap and the men's preview. Can't guarantee it'll be the same episode, but we'll get both of them to you, um, in the next week. So, once again, thanks for tuning in everyone. Get in the comments if we absolutely botched some predictions. And it's NCAA's time, baby.

59:09Catch you in the next one. Peace. At Amika Insurance, your time and peace of mind matter. Bundle your auto and home coverage with us and enjoy savings that make life a little easier. As a mutual insurance company, we're built for our customers. We prioritize your needs and are here for you when you need us. Amika Empathy is our best policy. Visit amika.com and get a quote today. Hello, it is Ryan and I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite social spin slot games on chumbacacino.com. I looked over the person sitting next to me. I know what they were doing. They were also playing chumbacacino. Everybody's loving having fun with it. Chumbacacino is home to hundreds of casino style games that you can play for free anytime anywhere. So sign up now at chumbacacino.com to claim your free welcome bonus. It's chumbacacino.com and live the chumbac.