(Please note the change to the men's 500 free seeding and a correction to the check-in deadline for Sunday's 200s shown below.)
With 2250 swimmers entered the meet, our longest projected day is Sunday. We have decided to seed some events differently on Sunday in order to trim the timeline instead of cutting the sixth event. Below are the seeding decisions for the meet:
Thursday:
1000 and 1650 will be deck seeded by time, men and women separate.
Friday:
50s, 100s and 200s will be pre-seeded by age group.
400 IM will be deck seeded by time, men and women separate.
Saturday:
Women's 500 free will be deck seeded by age group.
50s, 100s and 200s will be pre-seeded by age group.
Sunday:
Men's 500 free will be deck seeded by age group.
50s and 100s will be pre-seeded by age group.
200s will be deck seeded by age group.
Please note in the past we've always been consistent (e.g. all 200s seeded the same way, etc.). So please remember to positively check in for those 200s on Sunday. And if you should check in early in the meet and later decide you won't swim a 200 on Sunday, please let the admin officials know prior to 9am on Sunday so you can be removed and not seeded. Empty lanes in deck seeded events are frowned upon and miscreants are subject to public humiliation (just kidding - but if Mark Gill were announcing you can be sure he would light you up)!
Another difference from the past is the competition pool warm up hours on Thursday ("distance day"). The competition pool will only be open for 60 minutes following the last heat of the 1650. We plan to post an estimated timeline next week, but Thursday's competition should end ~2pm, so the pool(s) will close ~3pm (ballpark).
Good luck to all swimmers!
Jeff Roddin
USMS Championship Committee
Looking at the heat sheets I was wondering why the oldest swimmers are often in heat two and not heat one. This doesnt make any sense and is not the way the seeding is supposed to be. My understanding of the rules is that heats are based on age, old to young. In the womens 200 fly there are 50 year olds in heat one and 80 year olds in heat two. I understand that slower swimmers are sometimes put in different heats but this is done consistantly. In the womens 100 fly the whole heat of 65-69's is in heat one with the 70s and 80s in heat two, This is not only inconsistant but also confusing and I can see people missing their heats.
The Meet Manager software to run meets has the ability to switch two heats. This is often used at USMS National Championships because heat 1 can be a lot slower than heat 2. Because we are running two courses, the even numbered of heats normally take less time that the odd heats. This is always true for events seeded by time but most of the events are seeded by age group. Bottom line is that the meet will run faster if heat 1 and 2 are switched when there is a significant difference in the slowest times in heats 1 and 2. Heat 2 is usually started about 30 seconds after heat1 so swimmers should not miss their heat.
Looking at the heat sheets I was wondering why the oldest swimmers are often in heat two and not heat one. This doesnt make any sense and is not the way the seeding is supposed to be. My understanding of the rules is that heats are based on age, old to young. In the womens 200 fly there are 50 year olds in heat one and 80 year olds in heat two. I understand that slower swimmers are sometimes put in different heats but this is done consistantly. In the womens 100 fly the whole heat of 65-69's is in heat one with the 70s and 80s in heat two, This is not only inconsistant but also confusing and I can see people missing their heats.
The Meet Manager software to run meets has the ability to switch two heats. This is often used at USMS National Championships because heat 1 can be a lot slower than heat 2. Because we are running two courses, the even numbered of heats normally take less time that the odd heats. This is always true for events seeded by time but most of the events are seeded by age group. Bottom line is that the meet will run faster if heat 1 and 2 are switched when there is a significant difference in the slowest times in heats 1 and 2. Heat 2 is usually started about 30 seconds after heat1 so swimmers should not miss their heat.
