It is obvious that the new team scoring rules for National Championships has not achieved the purposes for which it was designed. At 2009 LC Nationals, many relatively small teams were classified as "regional teams" because their LMSC is so small that they all compete together at Nationals (ie., MOVY with 25 members), and many huge teams were not classified as "regional" teams because there were multiple teams in their LMSC (ie., IndySwimfit with 125 members). If the intent of the new rule was to prevent large teams from overpowering small teams in team scoring, the current rule has produced a ridiculous result.
I don't know why USMS abandoned the concept of Large Team/Small Team scoring years ago, but this concept would seem to work much more equitably. Some might argue that it is difficult to draw the line between large and small teams, but I think it becomes pretty obvious if you look at the Team Rosters from this year's meet. If the Championship Committee made this determination prior to each Nationals after the entries closed, which is the way they used to do it, if I remember correctly, we would minimize the potential problems with setting an arbitrary immutable limit for all Nationals.
I wish we could have brought more swimmers. Illinois Masters only had 72 and got second to Michigan with 20 less swimmers. A few years ago, Illinois Masters brought a huge team and beat INDYSwim Fit the meet host. Illinois Masters has approx 1500 members, approx 52 workout groups, approx 70 coaches.
Nadine:
Michigan Masters had 45 swimmers that scored in the meet from the start of the meet team roster. We had 52 swimmers sign up so we had 7 no shows. Illinois Masters had 68 swimmers that scored in the meet from the start of the meet team roster. You had 72 swimmers sign up with 4 no shows. This information was taken from the LMSC results summary.
Of the 52 swimmers that signed up, only one swimmer was from outside the borders of the Michigan LMSC and he happened to be a brother of one of our swimmers. We had entered 42 relays and scored in 41 of them with one DQ. Michigan Masters scored more points on relay day, with the exception of Indy Swim Fit than any club or team that was entered in the meet. 40 swimmers out of 45 swam the maximum of 4 relays on relay day contributing to the relay scores.
I wish we could have brought more swimmers. Illinois Masters only had 72 and got second to Michigan with 20 less swimmers. A few years ago, Illinois Masters brought a huge team and beat INDYSwim Fit the meet host. Illinois Masters has approx 1500 members, approx 52 workout groups, approx 70 coaches.
Nadine:
Michigan Masters had 45 swimmers that scored in the meet from the start of the meet team roster. We had 52 swimmers sign up so we had 7 no shows. Illinois Masters had 68 swimmers that scored in the meet from the start of the meet team roster. You had 72 swimmers sign up with 4 no shows. This information was taken from the LMSC results summary.
Of the 52 swimmers that signed up, only one swimmer was from outside the borders of the Michigan LMSC and he happened to be a brother of one of our swimmers. We had entered 42 relays and scored in 41 of them with one DQ. Michigan Masters scored more points on relay day, with the exception of Indy Swim Fit than any club or team that was entered in the meet. 40 swimmers out of 45 swam the maximum of 4 relays on relay day contributing to the relay scores.
