Having been burned in the past with swims that end up not counting for Top 10 consideration, I have some questions about a meet this Sunday that I am thinking about going to: www.usms.org/.../event.php
First, they do have timing pads, but I heard that these may not be working. If they have to do hand timing, does that mean times won't count for TT consideration?
Second, the final event of the day is the 400 Free/IM, with each swimmer picking one or the other (you can't do both). If I sign up for the 400 free and someone is swimming the 400 IM in the same heat, are the times invalid for TT consideration? (I made the mistake last year of swimming several events in the "Open" category and none of them counted officially.)
Thanks! This is one of the few LCM meets I can actually drive to, but I don't want to waste the gas money if it's going to be all for naught!
105.2.3 says that "In order for a time to be valid for Top 10 times consideration, a minimum timing quality of two manual times, averaged per USMS rules (see article 103.17.3) shall be used."
This event seems to run counter to the prohibition against "choice" events where the swimmer declares what event they are swimming at the blocks. Such events are not allowable for top 10 consideration. HOWEVER, my understanding is that it would be perfectly acceptable if they separated the 400's into distinct events 12 and 13 on the entry information and indicated that these two events *may* be conducted together in one heat to save time at the meet. In that case, they should probably put the IMers on one half of the pool and the freestylers on the other half. You may want to contact the meet host and ask them to make that change to make these events legal. This is just my understanding of the situation - it may not be 100% correct. You should verify with Chris Stevenson before committing to this.
You may also want to check with the meet host. I thought that the Maryland swim series meets were subsidized by the LMSC with no entry fees and were therefore for MD LMSC members only.
As Jim says, two watches or semiautomatic times (buttons) are fine for Top Ten (FINA/USMS records require three however).
The rule is that the event has to be listed in Article 102.5 (and "200 choice," for example, fails this test). I'm going to verify with Kathy Casey, but my instinct is that this case is okay. I agree with Jim that it would be "cleaner" to give them different event numbers, but he is also correct that it is okay to combine different events into one heat in order to save time.
Ultimately the main thing is to avoid the ambiguity for S&T judges: they have to know what event each swimmer is doing in order to apply the proper rules. For example, one can do a 200 butterfly with one-handed turns and it would be perfectly legal in a "200 free" event...or a "200 choice," I guess. I think that the case described here does avoid the ambiguity as long as the judges know which event each swimmer actually entered. They would face the same problem even if they were numbered separately.
I'll refer Kathy to this thread and we'll see what she says.
As far as eligibility to enter the meet, it seems like it is open to other LMSCs. At least, I got as far as the point of entering my CC number (they were going to charge me $15). The link to online entry is
www.clubassistant.com/.../meet_information.cfm
105.2.3 says that "In order for a time to be valid for Top 10 times consideration, a minimum timing quality of two manual times, averaged per USMS rules (see article 103.17.3) shall be used."
This event seems to run counter to the prohibition against "choice" events where the swimmer declares what event they are swimming at the blocks. Such events are not allowable for top 10 consideration. HOWEVER, my understanding is that it would be perfectly acceptable if they separated the 400's into distinct events 12 and 13 on the entry information and indicated that these two events *may* be conducted together in one heat to save time at the meet. In that case, they should probably put the IMers on one half of the pool and the freestylers on the other half. You may want to contact the meet host and ask them to make that change to make these events legal. This is just my understanding of the situation - it may not be 100% correct. You should verify with Chris Stevenson before committing to this.
You may also want to check with the meet host. I thought that the Maryland swim series meets were subsidized by the LMSC with no entry fees and were therefore for MD LMSC members only.
As Jim says, two watches or semiautomatic times (buttons) are fine for Top Ten (FINA/USMS records require three however).
The rule is that the event has to be listed in Article 102.5 (and "200 choice," for example, fails this test). I'm going to verify with Kathy Casey, but my instinct is that this case is okay. I agree with Jim that it would be "cleaner" to give them different event numbers, but he is also correct that it is okay to combine different events into one heat in order to save time.
Ultimately the main thing is to avoid the ambiguity for S&T judges: they have to know what event each swimmer is doing in order to apply the proper rules. For example, one can do a 200 butterfly with one-handed turns and it would be perfectly legal in a "200 free" event...or a "200 choice," I guess. I think that the case described here does avoid the ambiguity as long as the judges know which event each swimmer actually entered. They would face the same problem even if they were numbered separately.
I'll refer Kathy to this thread and we'll see what she says.
As far as eligibility to enter the meet, it seems like it is open to other LMSCs. At least, I got as far as the point of entering my CC number (they were going to charge me $15). The link to online entry is
www.clubassistant.com/.../meet_information.cfm
