Mission Viejo had very good facilities, great weather, superb organization, and the best hosts. Overall a great meet.
However, as commented in another thread, there were lots of no shows. In four of five events I had an empty lane next to me. This is not the best racing environment, and it makes the meet last longer than necessary. I am not critical of the people that did not show up -- I was one of them on Thursday, as an emergency at work made me arrive a day late.
On deck seeding would be a simple and easy solution.
Evidently some people like to know a day or days in advance who will swim in their heat. However, the way it worked for me, I found out as I walked up to the block who would *not* be swimming. *That's* lots of opportunity to get psyched! (not)
I don't think the way this meet was seeded (check in for distance events, advanced seeding for the other events) was a very good compromise. This was my first non-deck seeded masters meet, and I did not enjoy that aspect of it.
The problem with deck seeding (check-in 1-2 hours before the event) is that you don't get a heat sheet. It is very hard to watch friends and team members when you don't know when they are swimming, especially with 2 courses. When we tried checking in by 6 pm the day before, you got a heat sheet, but there were still no shows. For fear of forgetting to check in on time, some team members checked in everyone on their team, so there were still empty lanes.
Personally, I prefer a few empty lanes and a heat sheet.
The problem with deck seeding (check-in 1-2 hours before the event) is that you don't get a heat sheet. It is very hard to watch friends and team members when you don't know when they are swimming, especially with 2 courses. When we tried checking in by 6 pm the day before, you got a heat sheet, but there were still no shows. For fear of forgetting to check in on time, some team members checked in everyone on their team, so there were still empty lanes.
Personally, I prefer a few empty lanes and a heat sheet.
