Who made the order of events for Fort Lauderdale Nationals?

Lindsay, I appreciate your thoughtful, constructive comments on the issue of the order of events. If I could let me sum up the various positions I have heard from the 1000 & 1650 swimmers: - We want to swim both, not one, of these events at Nationals. - We don't want them and the 500 free crammed into the first few days of the meet, because we will be too tired to swim all of them well. - We don't want them to be the first and last events of the meet, because we will have to spend more time and money on accomodations, and no one will stick around to watch us swim. - We do want the prime time slots--the first events on Saturday and Sunday mornings--and we deserve those slots, despite the fact the shorter events could get in 4 to 12 splashes for every one splash for our events, because all swimmers are equal, but we are more equal than others. - No we don't want to have to train harder to handle all three longer freestyle events in a short time window. - No we don't want to have to pick one or two events to focus on swimming well, instead of all three. - No sorry, the open water swimming is not the same as a pool distance event, and no we don't want to accept open water as a reasonable accomodation. - Yes, we are more than happy to exclude "slower" swimmers from the National meet, so long as the NQTs are set so we can qualify. I realize I am combining the comments of several different people, each of whom has a separate aggenda and proposed solutions. However, these are all views the meet organizing committee has been asked to accomodate. Res Ipsa Loquitur Matt

Lindsay, I appreciate your thoughtful, constructive comments on the issue of the order of events. If I could let me sum up the various positions I have heard from the 1000 & 1650 swimmers: - We want to swim both, not one, of these events at Nationals. - We don't want them and the 500 free crammed into the first few days of the meet, because we will be too tired to swim all of them well. - We don't want them to be the first and last events of the meet, because we will have to spend more time and money on accomodations, and no one will stick around to watch us swim. - We do want the prime time slots--the first events on Saturday and Sunday mornings--and we deserve those slots, despite the fact the shorter events could get in 4 to 12 splashes for every one splash for our events, because all swimmers are equal, but we are more equal than others. - No we don't want to have to train harder to handle all three longer freestyle events in a short time window. - No we don't want to have to pick one or two events to focus on swimming well, instead of all three. - No sorry, the open water swimming is not the same as a pool distance event, and no we don't want to accept open water as a reasonable accomodation. - Yes, we are more than happy to exclude "slower" swimmers from the National meet, so long as the NQTs are set so we can qualify. I realize I am combining the comments of several different people, each of whom has a separate aggenda and proposed solutions. However, these are all views the meet organizing committee has been asked to accomodate. Res Ipsa Loquitur Matt