I am not usually one to complain about swim meets, since I appreciate all the hard work that goes in to putting one on.... And I fully understand that this is the largest LCM Nationals in the history of Masters Swimming....
But really...
Not being able to swim against your competition in the 200's???
This is not a local meet. This is the Nationals. The ONLY time I get to swim against my own age group.
There needs to be a better solution.
For me, it doesn't really seem to matter -- I always end up swimming in a heat with Kurt Dickson (except for the one year when I age up before him) and very often right next to him. We joked last summer in Omaha that we could've stayed home in AZ for our 800 and 400 and had the same race without all the travel, expense, etc.
On a serious note, my answer is that it depends -- what system is going to get me the best race? In Greensboro, for example, the 500 seeding within age group produced a simply awesome heat in the 45-49 age group and I loved the race. In the 400 IM, however, it would've been much better (selfishly) if it had been seeded by time.
If I had to pick only one system to live with for the rest of my life, I'd choose seeding by time within gender; part of the reason I have enjoyed swimming USAS meets in the past has been for the opportunity to race people my own speed or slightly faster.
After all, isn't age just a number?
For me, it doesn't really seem to matter -- I always end up swimming in a heat with Kurt Dickson (except for the one year when I age up before him) and very often right next to him. We joked last summer in Omaha that we could've stayed home in AZ for our 800 and 400 and had the same race without all the travel, expense, etc.
On a serious note, my answer is that it depends -- what system is going to get me the best race? In Greensboro, for example, the 500 seeding within age group produced a simply awesome heat in the 45-49 age group and I loved the race. In the 400 IM, however, it would've been much better (selfishly) if it had been seeded by time.
If I had to pick only one system to live with for the rest of my life, I'd choose seeding by time within gender; part of the reason I have enjoyed swimming USAS meets in the past has been for the opportunity to race people my own speed or slightly faster.
After all, isn't age just a number?
