This time of year, people start focusing more and more on sleepers and bracket-busters.

Nikita Denisyako hopes he can be the sleeper to awaken the A&M men's swimming and diving team in time to pull an upset or two at the Big 12 championships beginning Wednesday at the Mizzou Aquatics Center in Columbia, Mo.

Denisyako, a junior from Moscow, Russia, joined the Aggies in January of 2008 but was ruled ineligible last fall due to problems with his credit hours.

A&M's academic compliance office submitted an appeal to the NCAA office to reinstate Denisyako, which was accepted this week. For both the junior and the team, the decision could not have come too soon.

"It's not Nikita's fault we had to do it this way," A&M head coach Jay Holmes said. "It's just part of the way the NCAA is, there are rules there for a reason. We though we had a great case for an appeal and our compliance officer did a great job writing it. We were just thrilled it came through. It was definitely the right thing to do and we're just thrilled to have him back."

Denisyako was pressed into service as soon as he stepped on campus last season, setting school records in the 200 individual medley and the 200 backstroke and helping the Aggie relay teams set two more school records. Denisyako helped the Aggies finish 13th at the NCAA championships last season by scoring in the 400 and the 200 medley relays.

It hasn't been easy for Denisyako this season, though, as he's been relegated to practice duty until this week. It also wasn't easy to see his teammates fall in dual meets, but Holmes pushes his team to focus on the Big 12 championship meet all season and not worry about individual losses.

"I'm pretty glad that the NCAA let me swim in the conference championship," Denisyako said. "I'm going to be swimming as fast as I can. In practice I did a pretty good job, and my teammates helped me out. At the beginning of the year, no one thought we were a fast team. Our coach just told us not to worry about it, that we'd be swimming fast by the end of the year."

In his absence, the Aggies got strong contributions from other members of the team, such as sophomore Balazs Makany, junior Jason Bergstrom and divers Eric Sehn and Cam McLean. The addition of Denisyako just makes this group stronger and more confident, according to Holmes.

"Any time you have a guy who's a school record-holder in two events, [getting him back] plays a big part in [reaching our goals] and getting them done," Holmes said. "It's a big confidence boost. Our guys are obviously thrilled to get him back, because we're clearly a different team with him. We had a hole there with Nikita being gone, in the 200 IM and the 200 backstroke. Jason Bergstrom beat Nikita last year in the 100 back, so we weren't naked there. If we didn't have Nikita, though, we'd be hurting in a bunch of places."

Whoever is swimming for A&M will have tough competition to face from both top-ranked Texas and No. 24 Missouri. Texas has only lost once this year in dual meets (to fourth-ranked Arizona). The Aggie men are prepared for this level of competition after many of them swam in the NCAA championships last year. Their goal is a Big 12 championship, but NCAA qualifying times are also high priorities.

"[Having] Texas in your conference, it's tough," Holmes said. "They don't have a lot of weaknesses anywhere and they are fighting for a national championship every year. That's one of the things about our conference meet that's different than some of the other conferences. But, it also helps us when we go to the NCAAs because we've already swam against a team the caliber of Texas. We're going to be fast this week and just see how our times shake out."

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Aggie women shoot for third straight title: The back-to-back Big 12 champion Texas A&M women's swimming & diving team will be in search of a third consecutive title at the Big 12 championships in Columbia.

The Aggies ended the regular season with a 9-2 record but are taking a depleted squad to Missouri. The Aggies will be without the services of the last two Big 12 swimmers of the year and a four-time Big 12 breaststroke champion.

Seniors Kristen Heiss, a U.S. National Team member, and Julia Wilkinson, who qualified for a Canadian-record eight events at the 2008 Olympics, are redshirting after both had shoulder surgery.

Junior Alia Atkinson, who suffered the loss of her only brother in a plane crash in Central Florida less than a week ago, will attend his memorial service on Thursday. She is a seven-time Big 12 champ.

Also, diving newcomer Jaele Patrick returned to Australia this week to compete in her country's national championship, which also serves as their world championship qualifying meet.

Leading the way for the Aggies will be Triin Aljand, Christine Marshall and Codie Hansen. Aljand has earned 17 All-America titles and won six individual Big 12 titles. Marshall was a bronze medalist on the U.S. 800 freestyle relay and was the 2007 Big 12 swimmer of the meet. Hansen was the 2006 Big 12 swimmer of the meet and earned a share of Big 12 swimmer of the year honors that season as well.

BIG 12 SWIMMING & DIVING

* When/where: Wednesday-Saturday at the Mizzou Aquatics Center in Columbia, Mo.