So Why is Indy a Small Showing?

Indy may be competing with the Pan Am Games. Kinda hard to travel to both/taper for both because they're only 5-6 weeks apart. Off topic here, but does anyone know whether a high school kid has ever swum at masters nationals? I almost opted to skip Indy, but my 18 year old high school senior wants to go and is dragging me along.

I almost opted to skip Indy, but my 18 year old high school senior wants to go and is dragging me along. That's great! You'll have to track down the oldest competitor at Indy and get a shot of your daughter with that person.

Here's a list of all of the USMS Short Course Nationals meets with their attendance. Year Location Attendance 1970 Amarillo, Texas 46 1971 Amarillo, Texas 108 1972 San Mateo, Calif. 325 1973 Santa Monica, Calif. 500 1974 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 561 1975 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 663 1976 Mission Viejo, Calif. 800 1977 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 611 1978 San Antonio, Texas 560 1979 Mission Viejo, Calif. 1,020 1980 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 875 1981 Irvine, Calif. 1,209 1982 The Woodlands, Texas 910 1983 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 1,208 1984 Industry Hills, Calif. 1,227 1985 Milwaukee, Wisc. 1,021 1986 Fort Pierce, Fla. 1,231 1987 Stanford Univ., Calif. 2,328 1988 Austin, Texas 1,405 1989 Boca Raton, Fla. 1,755 1990 Los Angeles, Calif. 1,592 1991 Nashville, Tenn. 1,529 1992 Chapel Hill, N.C. 1,502 1993 Santa Clara, Calif. 2,055 1994 Tempe, Ariz. 1,912 1995 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 1,992 1996 Cupertino, Calif. 2,048 1997 Federal Way, Wash. 1,438 1998 Indianapolis, Ind. 1,738 1999 Santa Clara, Calif. 2,060 2000 Indianapolis, Ind. 1,390 2001 Santa Clara, Calif. 1,850 2002 Honolulu, Hawaii 1,103 2003 Tempe, Ariz. 1,922 2004 Indianapolis, Ind. 1,564 2005 Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 1,620 2006 Coral Springs, Fla. 1,276 2007 Federal Way, Wash. 1,456 2008 Austin, Texas 1,865 2009 Clovis, Calif. 1,582 2010 Atlanta, Ga. 1,975 2011 Mesa, Ariz. 1,817 2012 Greensboro, N.C. 1,864

Over 2000 participants three times, all of those three locations are within 15 miles.

In comparison to other Nationals hosted at Indy in the past, it looks like this one is actually a little more attended than previous years. Attendance really is more based on locality to larger population centers and/or warmth/fun stuff to do aside from swimming as well.

Indy is not a small showing. Here's a graph of the data Jayhawk posted above. To my eye, it looks like attendance has been pretty stable over the last 25 years, albeit with a lot of variance. The mean attendance from 1989-2013 is 1702 (standard deviation 259). The pink line represents the mean over the 25 year period. As you can see, attendance this year, at 1636, is pretty close to the mean.7391

In reality the Indy attendance probably is about what should be expected. I think Greensboro last year was on the high side. Probably due to it being in a brand new facility, no other competing meets, and maybe even a little Olympic year excitement.

In reality the Indy attendance probably is about what should be expected. I think Greensboro last year was on the high side. Probably due to it being in a brand new facility, no other competing meets, and maybe even a little Olympic year excitement. There was an incredibly high turnout from within the NC LMSC which is what I think pushed it higher than normal. They did a great job at the USMS equivalent of "GOTV." It is interesting to me that nationals attendance doesn't really correlate with overall USMS membership numbers for the last 25 years. Possibly that could partly reflect the fact that too many people degrades the nationals experience somewhat (longer days, crowded warmup areas, etc). Maybe the current average is right around an optimum spot for that.

"Off topic here, but does anyone know whether a high school kid has ever swum at masters nationals? I almost opted to skip Indy, but my 18 year old high school senior wants to go and is dragging me along." Jared was in his senior year when he went with me to Nationals in Mesa in 2011.

Wow, I've been out-geeked. That's saying something! Perhaps Swimosaur should be invited to join the prestigious ranks of the top ten recorders.