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.
In 2005 I was at the Worlds Masters Games.It was seeded by time.A friend of mine,Dave Radcliff,swam several world records swimming against much younger swimmers,but as far as the announcer was concerned he was just some gut in lane 7(as an example.)
When I go to Nats I want to swim against Bob Strand,Jim Clemmons,Robert Wright,Hubie Kerns,Richard Walker,etc.I don't want to swim against some 30 year old guy who happens to have a seed time close to me.If I have one of the fastest times in my age group I want a center lane.I admit in my age group there is the "Rick Colella problem",that he is so much faster than everyone else it may not be a race for him and he might like to swim with faster swimmers.I don't know,I haven't asked him.I just know for me,I'd rather swim by age groups at Nats.I can go to plenty of meets seeded by time,Nats is special.
oddly enough rick's 200 swim in Omaha was one of the observations I was referring to when I said timed heats tend to diminish the accomplishment of a world record swim. I don't think he won his heat yet against the 60-64 group he would have won by about 15 seconds.
In 2005 I was at the Worlds Masters Games.It was seeded by time.A friend of mine,Dave Radcliff,swam several world records swimming against much younger swimmers,but as far as the announcer was concerned he was just some gut in lane 7(as an example.)
When I go to Nats I want to swim against Bob Strand,Jim Clemmons,Robert Wright,Hubie Kerns,Richard Walker,etc.I don't want to swim against some 30 year old guy who happens to have a seed time close to me.If I have one of the fastest times in my age group I want a center lane.I admit in my age group there is the "Rick Colella problem",that he is so much faster than everyone else it may not be a race for him and he might like to swim with faster swimmers.I don't know,I haven't asked him.I just know for me,I'd rather swim by age groups at Nats.I can go to plenty of meets seeded by time,Nats is special.
oddly enough rick's 200 swim in Omaha was one of the observations I was referring to when I said timed heats tend to diminish the accomplishment of a world record swim. I don't think he won his heat yet against the 60-64 group he would have won by about 15 seconds.
