By Stephanie Berlin & Ryan Killian
Excerpted from The Daily Texan

After a third place finish in last year's NCAA Swimming and Diving National Championship, this year's Longhorns couldn't look more different than they did at this time in 2003.

One year ago, Texas' men's swimming team was poised for another traditionally strong season with a trio of world champions in Aaron Peirsol, Ian Crocker and Brendan Hansen.

This year, if the Longhorns hope to capture top honors at the NCAA Championships, they'll have to do it without three of the best swimmers to ever grace the 40 Acres.

"We lost some good guys," junior Wade Kelley said. "A lot of teams will underestimate us this year, which puts us in a position where guys can step up."

"Step up" seems to be the unofficial motto of this year's team. Of those returning, seniors Rainer Kendrick and Nathan O'Brien could play key roles.

Kendrick came in third in last year's 200-meter medley relay at the Texas Invitational and took first in the 200-meter butterfly during NCAAs. The reigning individual champion returns to Texas to compete in butterfly, freestyle and the individual medley.

O'Brien also returns to Texas with some experience under his belt. The All-American took first at the Big 12 Championships in the 200-yard backstroke in 2003. He also competed at the Olympic games in Athens for Canada.

Junior Garret Weber-Gale brings his talents back to Texas after narrowly missing a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Weber-Gale finished seventh in the 100-meter free at the Olympic trials, missing the team by 23-hundredths of a second. At this summer's National Championships, however, Weber-Gale captured his first national title after taking first in the 100-meter freestyle.

Freshman phenom Daniel Rohleder kept busy at the National Championships by finishing third in the 100-meter backstroke, first in the 100-meter butterfly and first in the 400-meter relay with teammates Christian Schurr and Tyler O'Halloran.

Though there are nearly six months before NCAA competition in March, it is the goal.

"The focus is on NCAAs," Kelley said. "That's all that matters."

But don't expect the road to the national championship to be easy. Texas has to face two-time defending national champions Auburn along the way.

"We could be better than last year," Aram Kevorkian said. "Auburn is great, but it's due time for Texas to come back."

-SB Texas women swimmers and divers take to the pool competitively for the first time this season Friday in the annual Orange/White Scrimmage at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.

The competition signifies the beginning of a new swimming and diving season and gives the athletes a chance to face off against each other before going up against true opponents. Longhorn co-head coach Jill Sterkel is excited about the looming season and, in particular, the incoming freshmen.

"We have an outstanding group of freshman," she said.

None of them are more outstanding than Hayley McGregory. The Houston native heads into her first season fresh off of an impressive showing at the Olympic trials. She missed a spot on the Olympic team by seven-tenths of a second in the 100-meter backstroke, coming in third.

She had another chance four days later in the 200-meter backstroke, but she finished third again.

Seven-time NCAA All-American Sarah Wanezek also swam well in the trials. She finished fifth in the 50-meter freestyle final. Twenty women from Longhorn Aquatics competed in the trials.

As is the program's tradition, the team will be facing a touch schedule, including PAC-10 heavyweights USC and Stanford. Last year both teams beat them in the dual meet.

Last year the women won their sixth consecutive Big 12 title, and this year anything less would be a disappointment. The team has their eye on the NCAA championships. The Longhorns have won nine NCAA national titles, but none of those are more recent than 1991, at which point they had won nine of the last 11. In fact, the closest they have gotten since then is third, which they accomplished during the 2000-01 season.

Head diving coach Matt Scoggin has been named coach of the year for the NCAA, as well as the Big 12, multiple times in both men's and women's diving. In 2003, Longhorn diving was almost unbeatable in the Big 12, winning five of six events.

While the women train for the upcoming season, they are already looking ahead to next April's World Championships trials.

"The World Championship trials are a goal for a large percentage [of the swimmers]," Sterkel said.

A strong season could be the key to launching successful careers in aquatics, and this year the women are primed for the task.