Beginning in 2009, club scoring awards at Nationals have been divided into two separate categories: Regional and Local. A formal description of the two club categories is below (104.5.6B & from pages 34-35 of the 2015 USMS Rule Book):
(1)Regional - For competition at national championship meets, a regional club consists of a club made up of those swimmers who represent a club at nationals, but at competitions within their LMSC, they compete for an entity or subgroup (such as a workout group) that is different than the one they compete with at nationals.
(2) Local - For competition at national championship meets, a local club consists of a club that does not qualify as a regional club.
Based on these definitions, the following scoring categories will be in place for 2015 Nationals:
Regional Clubs:
AKMS - Alaska Masters Swim Club
ARIZ - Arizona Masters Swim Club Inc
CMS - Colorado Masters Swimming
FACT - Florida Aquatic Combined Team
GAJA - Georgia Masters
HMS - Hydropower Masters Swim Club
IAMA - Iowa Masters
IM - Illinois Masters
MICH - Michigan Masters
MM - Montana Masters
NCMS - North Carolina Masters Swimming
NEM - New England Masters Swim Club
NIAG - Niagara District Masters
NMMS - New Mexico Masters
OREG - Oregon Masters
PSM - Puget Sound Masters
SKY - Swim Kentucky Masters
SMS - Southern Masters Swimmers
SWOM - Southwest Ohio Masters
UTAH - Swim Utah
WMAC - Wisconsin Masters Aquatic Club
WMSC - Wyoming Masters Swimming Club
Local Clubs: all other registered USMS clubs.
According to the USMS Rule Book the Championship Committee shall publish this list no later than February 15 of each year. Please note clubs may contest their designation or the designation of another club by filing an appeal with the chair of the Championship Committee (Jeff Roddin, championship@usms.org) at least 45 days prior to the national championship meet (those deadlines would be March 9 for San Antonio and June 22 for SPIRE).
Jeff Roddin
USMS Championship Committee Chair
Unattached swimmers cannot swim on relays at any Masters meet. If you were a member of one of the Illinois Masters subgroups, you could swim on Illinois Masters relays, but your USMS registration is with Illinois Masters, not the subgroup.
I got my status changed from "unattached" to "independent." Apparently I'm now part of a club ("Illinois Masters," not to be confused with "Illinois Masters Swimming Association") that has members but no meetings, teams that compete against each other except when they compete together, and lets some people who aren't part of a team but are in the same LMSC swim relays when the teams compete together but doesn't let some other people who are in the LMSC but not part of a team swim relays at all. That's clear as mud. :confused:
Thanks to this thread for bringing it to my attention, however, and the quick response of the LMSC Registrar, I'm now in the first group of non-team members, not the second! I think this means I can swim on a relay at Summer Nationals.....if only I can figure out who to let know I'm available and interested. :dunno:
