Pool Events - Recent Threads

5th Annual LCM/SCM Meets in Little Rock, 1/15-17/2027

Calvin S — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:35:55 GMT

Just wanted to let everyone know the dates have been set for the 5th annual "First Chance Long Course Invitational" and the "Arkansas Masters SCM Invitational."

Both meets will be held at the newly renovated Donaghey Student Center on the campus of University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The DSC Natatorium is a 50M x 25Y course with a moveable bulkhead. Colorado Timing Systems with a large LED scoreboard and Myrtha starting blocks will all be utilized. The Long Course meet will be a single day/single session affair with all events offered on Friday, 1/15. The Short Course meet will be a two day/three session affair with all events offered: two sessions (one AM and one PM) on Saturday, 1/16 and one session (AM) on Sunday, 1/17.

This is a fast meet, with over 50 world and national records broken over the past four years!

Registration opens on November 1, 2026 and closes on January 10, 2027. You will need a valid 2027 USMS membership to register.

Both meets can be found in the "Calendar of Events" on the USMS website. Please find the links to the meet websites below as well.

LCM: www.clubassistant.com/.../meet_information.cfm

SCM: www.clubassistant.com/.../meet_information.cfm

Come take advantage of one of the earliest LCM/SCM meets in the country (remember USMS/AQUA rules for meters is your age as of December 31).

Hottest Nationals

Allen Stark — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 23:03:07 GMT

What is the hottest national so far. I expect that Sacramento will probably break that record. The forecast for the days of the meet is 99° 102°104°104°

RE: Hottest Nationals

Elaine Krugman — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:01:27 GMT

2011 in Mesa is why I never swam at an outdoor Nationals ever again. 😓

RE: Hottest Nationals

Kurt Dickson — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:08:04 GMT

Arizona nationals has entered the chat. 1994 and 2003 Tempe, 2011 and 2019 Mesa. Although they were spring nationals, they were regularly over 100. ASU has air conditioning in the locker room. I recall the odd looks I received camped out in locker room. By the end of the meet, everyone was in the locker room. 🙂

RE: Hottest Nationals

Allen Stark — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 19:55:33 GMT

Yes months before the meet I had posted come to Oregon. It will be cool. Boy was I wrong. It was awful and that was the time of the black full bodysuit so people were baking on the starting blocks

RE: Hottest Nationals

swoomer — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:40:57 GMT

I was there…freezing and shivering until about 10:00 am with increasing temps until about 7:00 pm…then moving towards chilly again. And then… really schizophrenic temps all over again! Definitely needed my parka in the morning. It was a well-managed meet after the start. I’d do it again. I was in Mesa and Woodlands…they were all hot, but I don’t think my swimming was compromised by Sacramento temps. Maybe I’ve learned how to manage it better over time.

Allen, I remember the 2008 Oregon Nationals…pretty steamy as well.

RE: Hottest Nationals

Allen Stark — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 22:53:03 GMT

Thank you

RE: Hottest Nationals

Elaine Krugman — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 13:24:01 GMT

The cool water served you well, King Frog! Congratulations, especially on your gold in the 50 breast and beating your seed times on all your races!

RE: Hottest Nationals

Allen Stark — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 02:14:17 GMT

at least the water is cool in Sacramento. Also, it’s cool in the morning. It only gets unbearable about 1 o’clock in the afternoon. I remember the Woodlands, the water temperature of the pool made it hazardous. I and another one of my teammates had to practically pull another teammate out of the water as she was clearly being a being affected by the hot water and still wanted to warm up when it was clearly dangerous for her

RE: Hottest Nationals

Gull — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:14:22 GMT

2007 at the Woodlands was pretty damn hot. Standing behind the blocks in a full body suit waiting to swim was brutal. And the aerators couldn’t keep the water cool enough.

RE: Hottest Nationals

Elaine Krugman — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:34:44 GMT

This is exactly the reason why I said to myself, "No way in hell am I going to Nationals!" My sister lives in Sacramento, and I get to hear her complain about the summer heat every year.

I will never forget Mesa in 2011 at Spring Nationals. It was so hot, my heat intolerance caught up with me, and I had to skip my 200 breaststroke race. I was miserable, so I will never do another outdoor meet in that heat ever again.

I would be curious to know if any other cities bid against Sacramento for Summer Nationals. If so, who were they, and why weren't they chosen?

King Frog, good luck to you and Seal Girl! Stay well-hydrated, and stay out of the heat as much as possible!

UPDATE EDIT: I learned from Ed Saltzman that there were two bids: Greensboro and Sacramento. Since Greensboro was selected for Spring Nationals, the default choice was Sacramento. Hopefully, in the future, some cooler weather locales will bid on Summer Nationals!

RE: USMS Results Data Analysis

Jennifer Tran — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 15:36:07 GMT

I'll be swimming at the 2026 USMS Summer Nationals in Sacramento in a few days! I hope to see many of you there as well!

At last year's Summer Nationals in Federal Way, I was pacing with a swimmer I thought was faster, only to learn she used her personal best overall, not her slower age group best. Many of us have experienced the opposite, swimming with someone who underestimates their seed time.

I created this updated psych sheet for 2026 USMS Summer Nationals where you can see each swimmer's seed time, personal best overall, and personal best in their age group in that event (in LCM):

www.tryopenlane.com/.../2026-summer-nationals

You can also click on each swimmer's name and see a more in-depth USMS data profile.

I hope this psych sheet helps everyone research their competitors, develop a better race strategy, and see where you actually rank (not based on seed time)! Good luck, and let me know if you have any feedback.

P.S. - The heat sheet is also partially populated and will continuously update as soon as the events are seeded:

www.tryopenlane.com/.../2026-summer-nationals

USMS Results Data Analysis

Jennifer Tran — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 21:08:08 GMT

I recently built this website that lets Masters Swimmers enter their Swimmer ID and view analytics of their progression with meet times: https://www.tryopenlane.com/. Think of it as a minimal Swimcloud for US Masters Swimming!

For example, if your USMS ID number is 456B-MZ99C, enter only the last five digits after the dash, which is your Swimmer ID. into the app. Here's my profile on the app in case anyone no longer has an active ID: https://www.tryopenlane.com/?swimmerID=MZ99C.

I built this to easily find my overall personal best times and PBs within my age group (as I get older and can't hit my previous PBs). Any feedback would be appreciated!

I am a swimmer from the Pacific Northwest LMSC. I learned to swim three years ago and went to my first meet six months after learning! I love the energy of meets.

RE: USMS Results Data Analysis

Jennifer Tran — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 22:47:36 GMT

A new feature by request: Nationals Event Picker.

The Nationals Event Picker helps you select events to register for at Summer or Spring Nationals, recommended based on your likelihood of earning a Top 10 medal, using data from the last three years of Nationals.

Go to https://www.tryopenlane.com/ -> Enter your USMS ID or your profile (if you have an account and have saved it) -> Nationals Event Picker tab.

On the Nationals Event Picker page, you can add various filters, including LCM/SCY events, specify the maximum number of events, compare your times by age group (useful for those moving up), and compare different types of personal best times (default shows all of your events with your personal bests that you've swum in the last two years). For the LCM Summer Nationals, you can select the days you'll attend the 2026 USMS Nationals in Sacramento, and it will recommend events corresponding to those days.

Events are shown with the following labels:

Highly Likely:
Less than 10 swimmers in your age group swam these events at Nationals in at least 2 of the last 3 years. Finish legally, and you will likely score in the Top 10'

Likely:
Your time is better than the 10th place finishers at Nationals from the last 3 years

Stretch:
Your time sits between recent 10th-place cuts. Some years you're in the 10th-place cut; some years you're out.

Long Shot:
Your time is much slower than every recent 10th place.

For example, I'll attend the 2026 USMS Nationals on Thursday and Saturday, and my profile recommends 200 breast and 400 free, since 10 swimmers or fewer typically swim them, and I have swum them at least once in the past two years. It recommends the 50 free, but also advises me that, based on my personal best in the last two years, it's a long shot for me to get into the Top 10!

The descriptions provide me with data on how many swimmers have swum them in the past three Summer Nationals and, if more than 10 swimmers register, how far away I am from the typical Top 10 cut.

Any feedback is welcome!

P.S. It's a bummer that many mid-distance and distance events are currently capped for the 2026 Summer Nationals, but don't be afraid to add yourself to a waitlist for an event that you'll highly likely medal in.

RE: USMS Results Data Analysis

Jennifer Tran — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 05:15:29 GMT

Hello all! I wanted to give another update on Openlane since last month!

Over 250 USMS swimmers have analyzed their results, accounting for nearly 2% of unique USMS swimmers who've competed in meets this year. A huge thank you for your support!

Here are a few feature updates based on various conversations with swimmers and LMSCs, and Masters swimmers abroad as well:

Open to anyone, no matter if they have a USMS ID:

1. Percentile-based Motivational Times - times based on the event ranking of the season best for each USMS swimmer in each age group during the 2024-2025 season. Some of you very competitive ones wanted to achieve a time within the top 2-55% of real times at meets (you guys are fast!).

2. Swimming Time Converter - We've heard that the swimswam.com time converter linked to Club Assistant can be improved. This converter allows you to enter your USMS ID and get an SCY, SCM, LCM conversion for your personal best times, age-group personal bests, or based on the time that you last swum in that event. If you are not a USMS member, you can still enter multiple swim times at once and save them.

3. Compare with USMS Top 10 - See the trends of the USMS Top 10 or how a swim time stacks up against every year of USMS Top 10 ranges. This is for anyone who wants to strive for a Top 10 finish in USMS!

4. Legendary Sets - list of famous workouts and sets by famous Olympic coaches and athletes. I think we should collect famous workouts and sets by famous Masters coaches and athletes!

For those who are going to their Openlane swimmer profile by searching using their ID:

5. All Race Results tab - The All Race Results tab is their full USMS Individual Results page with helpful filters which allow you to organize meet results such as by meet, event, age group, course, etc.

Here's an example of mine:

6. The Swimmers to Follow section on the main page suggests other swimmers whom you should aspire to and swimmers who've accomplished similar times in your best event. It shows accomplished swimmers in 2–3 age groups ahead that you should aspire to become and swimmers who matched your speed in your best event this season in your gender and age group for the 2025–2026 SCY season.

Here's an example of mine:

For those who are not USMS swimmers, they can use the Find Swimmers like you page to input their age, gender, time in one event (and optionally, their goal), and see where they would rank amongst USMS swimmers and which USMS swimmers have the most similar times to them, swimmers that have already accomplished their goal, and who they should aspire to.

Painpoints with seed times and converting times

Jennifer Tran — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:51:27 GMT

I've recently received a request to look into pain points related to entering seed times and converting course times during meet registration.

A few pain points I've gathered:

Currently, Club Assistant links to the SwimSwam Time Converter at the top of the meet registration page, where you input your seed times. I've personally been locked out of an extremely popular meet that a swimmer limit (2025 EBSC Love to Swim in Vancouver, BC. Yes, not USMS though!) because I couldn't convert my SCY times to SCM quickly enough using the SwimSwam Time Converter.
- The Time Converter only allows converting one event at a time. The converter does not save any previously input times.
- The Time Converter is not connected to any USMS meet data. Swimmers need to cross-reference their USMS meet times and manually enter them.
Currently, Club Assistant allows quick entry of the last previously swum time. This is challenging for swimmers who might have taken major breaks since they last swam the event or are not in as good shape. I'm still learning, like to challenge myself, and always use my personal best times as seed times, but most teammates find that it causes too much pressure and adds a few seconds to their seed times. Would it be valuable to choose from a list of previously swum times instead of just one? Or the ability to add x speed percent to your previously swum time or personal best times?

Anything else that I'm missing?

Here is a first pass at a new time converter that allows anyone to:

1. input multiple times

2. input their USMS ID (last five digits), and then get a SCY, LCM, and SCM conversion of their all-time personal best, current age-group personal best, and last swum time in the event. The open question here is what else would be helpful - any other previous times? Adding x speed percent? Or another suggestion?

Shoutout to Emily Lederman of Puget Sound Masters (@HJUF1) and the ORCA team for the request!

Comparing USMS Top 10 Ranges

Jennifer Tran — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 23:43:20 GMT

For those who are interested in the USMS Top trends and want to estimate whether their target time will make it into a USMS Top 10 by event and age group, I created this tool: https://www.tryopenlane.com/compare-with-top-10.

It shows the historical ranges of USMS Top 10 by event, age group, and gender in one neat graph, compares them to the Percentile-Based Motivational Times, and lets you add your target time to see where it lands!

Here's an example:

I found USMS Top 10s during COVID were crazy, and some events (like the 500 SCY free in the 18-24 age group), you could have a non-NQT time and still make a USMS Top 10. Who was even hosting meets during then?!?!?

Any feedback is welcome!

RE: Comparing USMS Top 10 Ranges

Karl_S — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 21:40:46 GMT

I suppose the woman who swam that 1:43 in 2010 was super-suited, but still, that's crazy fast!

RE: Comparing USMS Top 10 Ranges

Jennifer Tran — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:09:32 GMT

Thank you, Elaine, for all of the support! I came up with this one after looking into streamlining getting USMS Top 10 results for another swimmer :)

RE: Comparing USMS Top 10 Ranges

Jennifer Tran — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:08:49 GMT

Ah, yes, the 2019-2020 season starts technically in June 2019! That's crazy, I wish that I were swimming back then!

RE: Comparing USMS Top 10 Ranges

Elaine Krugman — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 15:56:08 GMT

Thanks, Jennifer, for continuing to create useful tools for us swimmers! Although this particular tool doesn't apply to me, I can see how it would be great for faster swimmers!

RE: Comparing USMS Top 10 Ranges

Allen Stark — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 01:51:43 GMT

For 2020 if you swam an event before the end of March you could Top Top 10

I didn’t and it was the first year since 1978 that I didn’t Top Ten

RE: 2026 Motivational Times

Jennifer Tran — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 07:41:53 GMT

Both 2026 (Unofficial) USMS Percentile-based Motivational Times and USMS Motivational Times are now easy to view on mobile.

2026 Motivational Times

Jennifer Tran — Wed, 27 May 2026 18:38:00 GMT

2026 (Unofficial) USMS Percentile-based Motivational Times: https://tryopenlane.com/percentile-times

2026 (Unofficial) USMS Motivational Times: https://tryopenlane.com/motivational-times

I've calculated Motivational Times based on two different formulas:

1. Percentile-based Motivational Times are based on the percentile ranking of the personal best time of each USMS swimmer who swam the event in the same age group and gender (also known as Event Ranking) in the 2024-2025 season for SCY, and 2025 season for LCM and SCM: https://www.tryopenlane.com/percentile-times:

AAAA - overall top 2%

AAA - top 6%

AA - top 8%

A - top 15%

BB - top 35%

B - top 55%

2. USMS Motivational Times are based on the criteria USMS last used in 2024, which are 2026 NQTs with a flat percentage added to each standard:

AAAA - 2026 NQTs

AAA - 5% slower than AAAA

AA - 10% slower

A - 14% slower

BB - 24% slower

B - 33% slower

RE: USMS Results Data Analysis

Jennifer Tran — Mon, 25 May 2026 18:41:15 GMT

Hello all! I wanted to give an update on the site! You can still access https://www.usmsdata.org, but we also have a branded site at https://www.tryopenlane.com/ to make it more appealing to swimmers who are not as familiar with USMS (but should certainly join our community).

A few updates have been made:

1. Race Quest - shows which events you've raced and what you haven't. You can see if you have raced all of the possible events in Freestyle, Butterfly, Breaststroke, Individual Medley, Backstroke, SCY, SCM, LCM, and overall.

Here's an example from Rick Colella, 1976 Olympic Medalist in the 200m breaststroke and a fellow Puget Sound Masters teammate of ours. It looks like he's aiming for racing a Grand Slam (all possible events).

2. 2026 USMS Motivational Times - based on the 2026 NQTs and the formula that USMS used l last time that they made all motivational times in 2024.

This was a special request made in this forum post, and we were happy to create it! You can also see the Motivational Times comparison in the NQT comparison table.

3. Recent Meets Raced on the first page - When a meet has been added to the Event Dashboard, you will then be able to compare it to your Personal Best (overall), Personal Best (current age group), Last meet, and Last time the event was swam.

Here's an example of mine at PNA Champs (Pacific Northwest Regionals!) in April.

4. NQT Dashboard now includes:

a. A quick overview of which events you've hit an NQT, events that you haven't qualified for, and events you've raced but not within two years (in order to have a valid NQT, you must have raced that time in the last two years).

Here's an example from my profile: https://www.tryopenlane.com/?swimmerID=005RJ&tab=nqt-compare&panel=status-needstime

b. Events where you're close to qualifying in:

c. World Masters Aquatics Championships Entry Compare for those who are aiming to swim at that (their time requirements are definitely less than USMS Nationals, though).

Thank you all for the feedback, and please keep them coming!