It was a great effort in his first Big 12 Championships. We did some things well but this is another step toward the NCAA Championships. Tomorrow is big day with more time in the pool, we need to stay focused and continue to improve every day of the meet.

I was very pleased with their effort.

The hardest skill to acquire in this sport is the one where you compete all out, give it all you have, and you are still getting beat no matter what you do. When you have the killer instinct to fight through that, it is very special. All great swimmers have that skill.

Swimming and track are similar because you don't have to win along the way to win it all. I use meets like this one to know how much rest to give the guys, and hopefully we will wait until the end of the year to peak.

All coaches have theories on where their teams are supposed to be, and we were as good as I could have hoped against Auburn. I want them to stay aggressive and keep competing.

When I came here, Texas had the greatest facility in the world at the time. What also attracted me to UT was the fact that I wouldn't lose as many good swimmers to the academically prestigious schools, because swimmers could also get a great education here.