TCU Olympic Sports Update: Undefeated Edition

We all know what is going on in football, most of us know what is going on in basketball and baseball.  It's easy to keep up with these sports because they are on TV, tens of thousands attend them every week and the talking heads on TV will tell you everything you need to know.  Everybody knows about the almost-comeback that TCU orchestrated in Norman this weekend, but just a few hours before that the TCU volleyball team was up in Norman fighting for the season sweep of the Sooners, a team they beat in Fort Worth earlier this year.

At this point in the fall, a lot of the Olympic sports are finished with their seasons.  Some of these sports, like soccer and cross country, are done with competition until next fall.  Others, like tennis and golf, will resume play in the spring. So, while I can't give you all of the juicy Olympic sports info that you've become accustom to, here are some updates on what happened over the weekend, what's happening this week and what's coming up in the near-term.

VOLLEYBALL The TCU volleyball team is just about done with their season.  They are currently 18-9 overall and 8-7 in the Big XII.  That record is good enough for fifth place in the conference, and with only one game left to play this year they can't finish better or worse than where they are currently.  After losing to Oklahoma 3-0 in Norman on Saturday, they will close out their season Friday at 2pm at the TCU rec center.  Win or lose, the Frogs will likely end their season in front of their ninth consecutive sell-out crowd at home.  They are looking for the season sweep over West Virginia, who they beat in Morgantown earlier this year.

Jill Kramer's first season as head coach of the Frogs has been pretty damn impressive.  Last year they finished the season 6-10 in the Big XII and 17-15 overall.  This year, the worst that they can do is finish 8-8 in the Big XII and 18-10 overall.  Their success has been the result of Kramer's focus on making them one of the best blocking teams in the country, along with an improved home atmosphere.  Junior Regan Mcguire is ranked 8th in the country in blocks per set, and TCU ranks 12th as a team. At home, TCU is 8-2 including a win over No. 2 ranked Texas.

SWIMMING AND DIVING The men's swimming team appeared in the rankings at No. 50 this week after a strong showing in College Station this weekend.  They are 4-0 on the year.  Unlike a regular meet, in which the entire team competes against one other team, the competition in College Station was an invitational.  Twenty six Frogs competed in the Art Adamson Invitational, with seven placing in the top 20.  Sophomore Matt Spallas finished 10th in the men's 200-yard butterfly finals, with fellow Sophomore Carlos Hunnicutt finishing 11th. TCU also finished 10th in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The women's team, 3-3 on the year, also sent competitors to the Art Adamson Invitational this last weekend.  Catherine Rash had a 20th place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, Maddie Ibrahim finished 19th in the 200-yard backstroke and Michelle Garland had a team-best, 16th place finish in the 200-yard backstroke.

The diving team traveled to Austin over the weekend where they competed in the UT Diving Invite.  Freshman Drew Webb stood out as a promising young athlete, finishing in 8th place in the 10-meter platform. On the women's side, another Freshman, Kelli Funk placed 13th in the same event. The swimming and diving teams will host West Virginia at home for their next contest, which will take place on 1/16/16.

RIFLE The TCU rifle team continued it's red-hot winning streak this weekend defeating Army in West Point, NY to improve to 8-0 on the season.  Just for a point of reference, it's a really big deal to break the 4,700 plateau in rifle scoring.  TCU recorded a score of 4,697 over the weekend.  They have broken 4,700 points twice this season already and they have only scored below 4,690 twice, scoring 4,678 at The Citadel and 4,686 vs Nevada.

So far this season we have faced Air Force and Army, both on the road, and have beaten both of them.  So yeah, that's uh...prettyyyyy...prettyyyy good.  We get to go for the armed-forces sweep against the US Coast Guard on 1/31/16.  For some reason we don't play Navy, I guess they were too afraid to schedule us.  Either way, rifle is done with their fall schedule and they will resume competition on 1/17/16 in Fort Worth for what will be a rematch with Ohio State, who TCU beat in Columbus earlier this fall.

Thanks to www.gofrogs.com for most of the stats and information in this article.