USA Swimming Grand Prix Series

I don't know where I saw or heard that as far down on the psych sheet as Phelps and Andrew are, they would be swimming next to each other. But not so in the later heats. I'm probably wrong on this. What is circle seeding anyway? Instead of having the last heat be the fastest swimmers, they are spread out in the last 3 heats. A center lane is considered beneficial for racing. This way the top 3 seeds each get a center lane. Plus more people get to race with the faster people. In an 8 lane pool, lane 4 goes to the fastest seed, followed by lanes 5,3,6,2,7,1,8. Using circle seeding, the top seed is in lane 4 of the last heat. The 2nd seed is in lane 4 in the 2nd to last heat. The 3rd seed is in lane 4 in the 3rd to last heat. The 4th seed is in lane 5 in the last heat. The 5th seed is in lane 5 in the 2nd to last heat. and so on.

I don't know where I saw or heard that as far down on the psych sheet as Phelps and Andrew are, they would be swimming next to each other. But not so in the later heats. I'm probably wrong on this. What is circle seeding anyway? Instead of having the last heat be the fastest swimmers, they are spread out in the last 3 heats. A center lane is considered beneficial for racing. This way the top 3 seeds each get a center lane. Plus more people get to race with the faster people. In an 8 lane pool, lane 4 goes to the fastest seed, followed by lanes 5,3,6,2,7,1,8. Using circle seeding, the top seed is in lane 4 of the last heat. The 2nd seed is in lane 4 in the 2nd to last heat. The 3rd seed is in lane 4 in the 3rd to last heat. The 4th seed is in lane 5 in the last heat. The 5th seed is in lane 5 in the 2nd to last heat. and so on.