Canadian Nationals 2004

how old do have to be to compete in the canada nationals?

Thanks for the reposnce...where could i find the entry form for the meet?

tentatively the 2004 Canadian Nationals will be May 21-24. The location I do not know yet. I believe that you can be 19 and compete at the Canadian Nationals...also there is no NQT, at least there haven't been any in the past. Hope this helps....

Where will the 2004 Canadian Nationals be held?

Hello, I'm new to the website and the existence of masters swimming. I am currently training to join a masters club in my area but right now I'm alone in the sense that I don't have anyone who can give me insights about what it is to be competitive. I was wondering if anyone could help me with finding out about some questions I have. If I understood correctly, someone above mentioned that there is not mandatory qualifying time necessary to be able to enter the nationals in Canada in 2004. But I was wondering what might be respectable times to be competitive? Browsing the forums I also noticed that there seems to be discussions about long distance swimming and I am interested in short distance swimming. I think I am more of a sprinter so to speak than long distance swimmer. Would there be anything along those lines for me? If so, what might be some respectable competive times and distances I should work for? All replies or insights very much appreciated, Schenk

Go to the main USMS web site -- www.usms.org -- and click on competition/nationals link which will allow you to look at results from usms nationals for this year and in previous years. Southern Pacific region also posts results from past regional meets . . . I presume others do as well. This information should give you guidance as to times specific to your age and gender. carl

As Fritz points out, these are short coure yards. Read abbreviations as follows: SCY = short course yards (25 yard length) SCM = short course meters (25 meter length) LCM = long course meters (50 meter length). Also, if you're new and looking to find "respectable" times, please note that you have chosen the top 10 swimmers in (I presume) your age and gender from the national swim meet. The qualifying time in this event is (I think) 24.8 -- you can check that under "qualifying times" at the national meet link. This is a very respectable and "competitive" time. Heck, I had a great time at nationals swimming just 3 events as I had no qualifying times and had only been back in the water for about 6 weeks after a 30 year absence. So enjoy yourself, your teammates, and the meets swimming against yourself and you should have a great time. Just my thoughts, carl

Hi Carl, Thank you for the info. I copied some info below that I found at the site you referred me to. The "50" for the short course below, does that represent meters? And do these races typically start with a diving start? How much of a difference do you think a diving start would typically make with regard to time for these top ten swimmers on the short course? 50 Freestyle SCY Men 35-39 (2003) # Name Age Club Time 1 Ronald D Karnaugh 36 TRIT 21.58 2 Stepan Oliva 36 WIN 21.66 3 Kirk F Everist 36 TOC 21.77 4 Bert Bergen 36 UNAT 21.82 5 Grant Rusk 35 METR 21.93 6 Richard Landry 39 NEM 21.95 7 Doug Ellis 35 TXAM 21.99 8 Geoffrey Glaser 38 USF 22.01 9 Brent Matheson 36 GSM 22.17 10 Henry L Clark 37 ARIZ 22.18

Originally posted by schenk Hi Carl, Thank you for the info. I copied some info below that I found at the site you referred me to. The "50" for the short course below, does that represent meters? And do these races typically start with a diving start? How much of a difference do you think a diving start would typically make with regard to time for these top ten swimmers on the short course? 50 Freestyle SCY Men 35-39 (2003) # Name Age Club Time 1 Ronald D Karnaugh 36 TRIT 21.58 2 Stepan Oliva 36 WIN 21.66 3 Kirk F Everist 36 TOC 21.77 4 Bert Bergen 36 UNAT 21.82 5 Grant Rusk 35 METR 21.93 6 Richard Landry 39 NEM 21.95 7 Doug Ellis 35 TXAM 21.99 8 Geoffrey Glaser 38 USF 22.01 9 Brent Matheson 36 GSM 22.17 10 Henry L Clark 37 ARIZ 22.18 These are from short course yards and most likely they all started from the blocks. To be that quick their starts are probably pretty good. How much starting in the water matters will depend on the quality of your block start and your water start. Most of the top ten listed could probably also start in the water and do pretty well but they would be slower. Maybe a second? It's hard to tell.

Hi Carl, I think you were right about the second advantage from the block. I tried a dive from the side of the pool and only increased my time by about a second. Also, thanks for cluing me about the abbreviations. Should have been obvious to me but being new... :) Fritz, I've only been back in the pool for about 4 weeks after a 30 year absence. Plus, I never swam on a team or raced formally. I'm really loving being back into it! I'm looking to be a competitive swimmer but have a lot of work to do to get to where I want to go. I'll just keep working at. Even if I can't be competitive, I've decided to take your advice and just enjoy and the swim of it. You all have a great website here too. I'm in St. Louis and looking at the front page of the forums it doesn't look like our city is very active in all this, though it does look like the western part of the state might be more active. I'll be working on conditioning, but would any of you all have any info about where the next short course meet might be? I think I've browsed most of the threads showing up in forums, so I hope I'm not just being lazy about researching of it. Also, someone above I think mentioned 25 short course yard races. I haven't found any qt times for such. If anyone know of a thread or site, could you please post? Also, I would like to know more about how to get on a team and how thats done? Best to all!