Seeding - Seed Time vs Actual Time

Note to those of you swimming at St. Nick's SCM meet: I entered the 400 IM and 400 free with NT's, because I didn't have a clue what to put as a seed time. :blush: I have only entered those events once- last summer at Dixie Zone LCM Championships. I have had injuries since then, I haven't trained SCM, my SCY training times have been :cane:, I'm still new at distance events... :worms: :angel: P.S. Swimosaur and EKW: See you at Georgia Tech! :chug: Look for me in the stands on the far side of the pool; it's less crowded over there. EKW, I will be in a black and blue Yingfa suit and white USMS cap.

Bill, there is the wild range of entries that you will see. from those sandbaggers that knowingly enter vastly slower times than what they will go to those that unknowingly do this to those that enter at or better than the World Record (yes this happened in Italy this summer). of course there is also the multitudes (almost 60 in each of my age groups events in Italy as an example) that entered and could not even make the cutoff time. thus making a long running big meet last 16+ hrs every day for a week. in the end, don't we all strive for going faster than our entry time even if seed time is your best ever?

Personally, I would like to see a (-) 10% margin allowed from PB to entry time. Masters swimmers have periods in their lives in which injuries, illness, work, or family matters interfere with their training. Perhaps going into a given meet, they know that they won't be able to perform their best. We should allow them to enter with what they feel is a realistic time. In the day and age of computers, no swimmer should be allowed to enter faster than their best and a stop-gate of 10% slower than their best can be implemented. For those doing the math, that's 6 seconds for a 1:00 a 100 Free, equaling a 1:06. I got pretty tired of hearing from the announcer during LCM Nationals, “Great job in Lane 4: Dropping 18 seconds from their entry time.” I rarely need to pushed (although helpful!) by those in nearby lanes to swim my race, but I find it very distracting to have someone 2 body lengths in front of me. For slower swimmers, it actually borders on rudeness to be lapping them during their event in which they are trying their best.

Which begs the question, why do we even bother with seed times? Just let everyone grab a lane. Like festival seating at a concert.

In the day and age of computers, no swimmer should be allowed to enter faster than their best and a stop-gate of 10% slower than their best can be implemented. What about swimmers who enter distance free events and swim other strokes? My 400/500 fly times are around a minute slower than my 400/500 free times, for example. For slower swimmers, it actually borders on rudeness to be lapping them during their event in which they are trying their best. :lmao:

Did anyone consider that there could have been a bunch of people who had phenomenal swims? Masters swimmers do amazing things every day.:banana:

It can be overestimated too. I thought I could finish a 200 in 3:00 after doing first split for time. What happened by 150m was the most punishment I have ever experienced in the pool Thought I wasn't going to make it to 200 and finish , but did 16 seconds later than seed

How do you folks feel about persons who misrepresent him/her self in this manner? These are from Heat 1 for each event recent swim meet. I think it shows an astounding degree of self-centeredness, but some people are like that.

Perhaps we could use an online lane selector for meets similar to what the airlines use for seat selection. Choose your heat and your lane in advance. The host could charge a bit more for the prime lanes and heats.

I've sandbagged a seed time or two myself but for this reason: When I have two events that are really close together on the meet schedule I'll put a seed time for the first event to ensure that I'm in the first heat and for the second event I'll put a seed time that ensures a spot in the later(last) heat. This broadens the span of time between two back to back events.