In the Nationals Forum their has been discussion about the decision to swim 200s at Nats by time only and not by age groups. forums.usms.org/showthread.php .Here is your chance to register your opinion for future reference.
but not the 800/1000/1500/1650. in those races there is simply too big a gap in placings to allow it. there was over 6min 40secs of difference in our own age group 1500 1st to last. however most of those were pretty darn accurate on their entry time.
I agree that those events can never really be seeded within gender/age-group unless the meet is very poorly attended (or distance swimmers just decide not to show up!).
As far as entry time accuracy, it only takes one person per heat to throw off a time line. Yesterday every so often I would look in on the "last completed heat" of the mile. The first people were the ones who beat their entry time by minutes...and the last people in the heat were the ones who were 1-2 minutes off their entry times. Multiply that by 30 heats and it is pretty significant.
but not the 800/1000/1500/1650. in those races there is simply too big a gap in placings to allow it. there was over 6min 40secs of difference in our own age group 1500 1st to last. however most of those were pretty darn accurate on their entry time.
I agree that those events can never really be seeded within gender/age-group unless the meet is very poorly attended (or distance swimmers just decide not to show up!).
As far as entry time accuracy, it only takes one person per heat to throw off a time line. Yesterday every so often I would look in on the "last completed heat" of the mile. The first people were the ones who beat their entry time by minutes...and the last people in the heat were the ones who were 1-2 minutes off their entry times. Multiply that by 30 heats and it is pretty significant.
