distance swimmers shorted

RIGHT ON! I think it has almost always been this way and I don't know why. There are plenty of examples of 4 day order of events from USAS that allow d-folks to do both. One can argue that a full four day schedule could also spread out the stroke and short events -- 'cuz those sprinters love to whine about only having like 2 hours between events :)

I know atleast 3 people that would consider going if they could swim ALL their distance events...just saying

RIGHT ON! I think it has almost always been this way and I don't know why. There are plenty of examples of 4 day order of events from USAS that allow d-folks to do both. One can argue that a full four day schedule could also spread out the stroke and short events -- 'cuz those sprinters love to whine about only having like 2 hours between events :) Adding a day to the meet for one more event? Maybe you'd get some more distance folks but I bet that there would be many more who would opt for zones (or whatever) instead. Probably me among them; I have a hard enough time "selling" my wife on nationals as it is, since she has to be a single mom while I am away.

yeah, what I meant was not to add another day, but to spread the events out over the four days with one distance event at each end of the meet, just thoughts from a distance swimmer who feels shorted my coach actually suggested signing up for BOTH the mile and 1000, but I had to tell him only ONE was an option, haha

Let's look at past Long Course meets to see how it would have worked out. We can't use last year's meet (Puerto Rico) as a guide because there were only 632 swimmers, the meet was mid-week and held outside the 50 states. We can't use 2009 (Indy) as a guide because they had the all relay day option. So let's use 2008 (Portland) as an example. Portland had just over 1100 swimmers, making it slightly larger than average (average is about 1000). They had a traditional 4 day meet with the distance day on Thursday and distance swimmers could only choose the 800 or 1500. Plus they even had to deck seed the 200s. Here was the estimated timeline for that meet: www.usms.org/.../timeline.pdf The projected ending times were: Thursday: 9:20pm Friday: 6:40pm Saturday: 8:40pm Sunday: 5:50pm If you shuffled the events around and added the couple to three extra hours for those who picked both distance events, how would you do it? As it was Sunday ended much too late for those who wanted to fly out on Sunday evening. Saturday night already was a rally killer for any kind of social or dinner plans with teammates. We have had meets where swimmers could do both distance events, but they have typically been cases where a 5 day format was offered or the facility could accommodate extra capacity (e.g. second 50m competition pool). If swimmers were allowed to do both the 800 and 1500 during a traditional meet (4 days, one 50m course) there would have to be tradeoffs somewhere else. For instance, the whole meet would likely have to be deck seeded (so you wouldn't have a nice program to follow the whole meet plus there will be an unfortunate small group of swimmers who fly all the way to the meet but forget to check-in; plus that requires extra staffing on behalf of the Host to accommodate). We'd probably also have to seed most events strictly by time (except for the 50s) instead of by age group. In Portland men and women already had to swim together in the 800 and 1500 - we'd probably have to combine genders in shorter events as well. It's unfortunate the distance swimmers cannot swim both events but unless we have two 50m courses for Summer Nationals or a third 25y course for Spring Nationals, it isn't feasible. Jeff

It's unfortunate the distance swimmers cannot swim both events but unless we have two 50m courses for Summer Nationals or a third 25y course for Spring Nationals, it isn't feasible.Jeff Don't give up distance swimmers! If you want to swim both events badly enough, there are facilities built to accommodate such large championship events. Find them and then - encourage them to bid for the championships. Maybe you won't get the distance schedule every year, but what a nice thing for you if it was occasionally possible.

The Canadian Masters Nationals Schedule make it feasible for the distance swimmers do the 800 and 1500 over a 4 day period. Yes, there are less swimmers than the American version. Sprinters don't have to choice betwee the 50 and 100 free. Thurs 1000 or 1650/1500 or 800 half of Friday's events Friday 1000 or 1650/1500 or 800 half of Friday's normal events Just a suggestion!

I was just looking over the schedule for long course nationals in Auburn, AL and I see the 800 and 1500 are on the same day, as were the 1000 & mile in Mesa. Please have one race at the beginning of the meet and one at the end of the meet so distance swimmers can do all their races, thanks! Katie, one strategy to follow for Nationals in your future is to train primarily for your 1650 early in the season and do a mini-taper meet late February or early March. Then, turn your focus to the 1000 and 500 for Nationals. It's not optimal, but it is a practical approach to get 'taper' swims in for both the longer distances. Plus, tapering for both the 500 and 1000 at Nationals is easier to balance than trying to have your body primed for both the 1650 and 500.

Read: www.usms.org/.../part1.pdf Pages 27-38 describe how Nationals are run. Pages 30-32 are particularly relevant to this discussion. Of note, on page 30: With Championship Committee approval, a swimmer may compete in both of the two longest freestyle events at the meet. The Championship Committee shall decide how national qualifying times will affect the entry.

Also from the rule book: "The Championship Committee may limit participation in either the 800-meter or the 1500-meter freestyle to only those who meet the national qualifying time for that event." So it seems that one of the ideas I presented was already on the books! The wording only mentions meters, but it may be possible that they're speaking of meters and yards interchangeably.