Imagine you get to arrange four swimmers into a freestyle relay team. They are within ~10% difference when it comes to times.
Would you do the most popular arrangement?
1st leg - 2nd fastest swimmer
2nd leg - 3rd fastest swimmer
3rd leg - slowest swimmer
4th leg - fastest swimmer
...or a different one? Would you consider other factors besides speed such as personality, experience, etc.? Does it make a difference if it is 4x50 or 4x200?
So what order would you put them in?
I would first let them decide among themselves. It's masters, we're all adults, and I cannot recall the coach ever deciding for us. We seemed to know for each relay what to do.
If someone wants a split, they should lead.
Times alone should not dicate order. Some people are better relays swimmers than others. I personally like to go 2nd or 3rd IF I am not getting a split. I don't like going 4th, because I swim really fast as 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, and I don't need the extra umph of anchoring RELATIVE to other relay swimmers. Or how about if it was a MIXED relay? That could also determine how you want to stack your swimmers. Or how about trying to anticipate a race with another team in particular, so you'd line up your order according to how they line up theirs.
Last, you could always do the "draw the name out of a hat", which is really fun for medley relays.
I would first let them decide among themselves. It's masters, we're all adults, and I cannot recall the coach ever deciding for us. We seemed to know for each relay what to do.
If someone wants a split, they should lead.
Times alone should not dicate order. Some people are better relays swimmers than others. I personally like to go 2nd or 3rd IF I am not getting a split. I don't like going 4th, because I swim really fast as 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, and I don't need the extra umph of anchoring RELATIVE to other relay swimmers. Or how about if it was a MIXED relay? That could also determine how you want to stack your swimmers. Or how about trying to anticipate a race with another team in particular, so you'd line up your order according to how they line up theirs.
Last, you could always do the "draw the name out of a hat", which is really fun for medley relays.
