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.
I too attended the Mission Viejo championships. After having suffered through a USMS Nationals with close to event time check-in I was very pleased to be able to have preseeded heats. If this meet had been deck seeded for all events I doubt I'd have bothered to attend (even though this is an age-up year for me).
Pre-seeded events result in way less hassle - no lining up, no worry about missing the cut-off, no checking back to see you're corretly seeded, and, best of all, a printed heat sheet to refer to for all kinds of useful information other than what lane am I in. When the events are pre-seeded, one expends significantly less energy wandering around the deck to find out when you're going to swim.
The first meet I experienced on deck check-in was the 2001 long course nationals held in Federal Way. What a disaster! Unlike Mission Viejo, Federal Way had a lot of stairs with very few places the heats were posted. I had to be at the pool two to three hours earlier just so I could check in, then wait around for the heats to be posted. All so some male hot shot doesn't have to swim next to an empty lane? No thanks!
On deck check-in for shorter events is a bloody nuisance. The current compromise (check-in for distance events only) is working. As other posters have indicated, there will always be empty lanes for many reasons. Why louse up things for everyone else?
I too attended the Mission Viejo championships. After having suffered through a USMS Nationals with close to event time check-in I was very pleased to be able to have preseeded heats. If this meet had been deck seeded for all events I doubt I'd have bothered to attend (even though this is an age-up year for me).
Pre-seeded events result in way less hassle - no lining up, no worry about missing the cut-off, no checking back to see you're corretly seeded, and, best of all, a printed heat sheet to refer to for all kinds of useful information other than what lane am I in. When the events are pre-seeded, one expends significantly less energy wandering around the deck to find out when you're going to swim.
The first meet I experienced on deck check-in was the 2001 long course nationals held in Federal Way. What a disaster! Unlike Mission Viejo, Federal Way had a lot of stairs with very few places the heats were posted. I had to be at the pool two to three hours earlier just so I could check in, then wait around for the heats to be posted. All so some male hot shot doesn't have to swim next to an empty lane? No thanks!
On deck check-in for shorter events is a bloody nuisance. The current compromise (check-in for distance events only) is working. As other posters have indicated, there will always be empty lanes for many reasons. Why louse up things for everyone else?
