Enforcement of NQT's for National Championships

Well, how about a vote? - Keep NQT policy as it is now - make NQT's mandatory for all events - make people pay extra to swim in events they don't make NQT's in (OK, not the last one) I enjoy all the people at the meet. The policy as it stands now allows many of my team mates to swim at nationals, making it all the more fun, and increases the chance for me to be in a relay (for those of us who don't belong to mega regional teams.) I'll even give up my sixth event for the pleasure of swimming with, and meeting, my team mates, and the friends I have in this group. (but what should that event BE??? :confused: )

Nicely put LBJ, obviously the time swimming in open water and not staring at a thin black line has kept your mind sharp. To reiterate a little the current system seems to be working, but should the need arise in the future, defining nationals will be the first step. Is this a showcase of top swimmers only or do you keep with the goal of masters swimming (inclusion of all). Once that decision is made, everything else will somewhat fall into place. If it is only for the elite, then tighten up the NQTs - if its for everyone, find more pool space or lengthen out the timeline in order to accomodate the masses, sounds simple enough. Jeff

My vote is to have the same thing that it is now: three free events, and to swim more -up to six-, competitors should meet the currently defined NQTs. From reading the thread, this is also the most prevalent opinion from people.

Meg, So sorry to hear about your dog. My 171/2 year old faithful dog and buddy died last May. I was heartbroken and I still miss her. I am thinking about you and your dog at this time. Peace, Denise

Originally posted by dbrown Meg, So sorry to hear about your dog. My 171/2 year old faithful dog and buddy died last May. I was heartbroken and I still miss her. I am thinking about you and your dog at this time. Peace, Denise Thank you Denise. Zeebo died about an hour ago. I feel really bad because what triggered the pancreatitis attack was that he ate most of a big bowl of pasta salad that I dropped on the floor while trying to put it in the refrigerator. Too much fat for an old dog to process. Please, don't feed your dogs anything but dog food, everyone. And everyone, please forgive me for my attitude today. I should not have tried to communicate with anyone in my state of mind.

Hi Paul. Iread your comments on nqt,s. And I thought what you said was very good. Kind of a thing we have in our country. The freedom to express our opions. We do say you are entilted to your opion. But if you do not express it. your arenot entilted to it. ( A little humor ) But at any rate I thought a lot of the comments made on this subject were great. As for my self, I did not qualify for any nqts. But the three events I enter , although I did place 14 8 &8 . I still felt like a champ. I was swimming with the thought that I was the greatist swimmer in the world. It was just me and my self. And I commend all the swimmers , which were all winners. And it was the USMS And its NQT,S, That allowed me to accomplished this. Again enjoyed all comments.:) :cool: :)

To the question “What rules (if any) are on the books regarding Qualifying times?” There are a number of rules dealing with NQT’s and these can be found in Article 104.5. “Conduct Of National Championship Meets”. As for QT’s (the non-national variety) this is addressed in article 401.2. “Right to Participate”. To paraphrase the article “It is not a violation of the Right to Participate to restrict an individual’s eligibility based on qualifying times.” Therefore, it is OK to run a meet which demands qualifying times. It should be noted that this rule allows both “must be faster than” (as in in NQT’s) or “must be slower than” (as in elite swimmers need not apply, or at least not in their elite events, similar to the USA-Swimming “B” meet concept).

Hmmm, Valhallan, you got something there (a page back). Got me thinking. Perhaps, the "free" (a term used loosely) 3 events should be available to events which are 200yds or less? ie. 40-44 Mens 500 free. QT 5:33. 29 out of 37 swimmers swam under the QT. There were swims +4min over the QT. In the 1000 there were swims +8 mins over the qt. I randomly selected the 40-44 men to use as an example. Some groups may be even worse, some may be better. But you have to admit, these are large numbers which would have a difference on the time of the meet. I saw some comments on the "Given" subject, and ION had some testimony to back up his comments. Are you a lawyer? :) Anyway, you're right, most people with a swimming background can relatively easiliy make the NQTs without really working hard. Are you asking to make them even harder, so that even us born and raised swimmers have to work?

One more thing, I forgot to post. What rules (if any) are on the books regarding Qualifying times? Are QTs applicable ONLY to Nationals, or can I run a meet which demands QTs. You know where I am going with this.... Joe Bubel

1. National Championship meets are not yet too unwieldy and cumbersome. 2. The current system allows everyone to swim three events for sure, regardless of their status. Hence: It ain't broke so don't fix it !!