Darian Townsend entered a masters meet in Mesa over the weekend and broke five world records in the 25-29 age group. This was Townsend's first masters meet. For those of you who are not familiar with him, Townend is a three-time Olympian and gold medalist from South Africa.
Swimswam.com posted a story about Townend's incredible meet. Here's the link: swimswam.com/.../
I found the comments quite interesting especially this one by "HMMM":
I have no problem with athletes making money off of Masters but why have a separate division called Masters if there are no rules or restrictions? None of the sponsored people you mention in their 50′s are training for Rio are they?. Most people in Masters believe they are swimming against recreational swimmers which is why there is a separate Masters division and those records are set by recreational/retired swimmers. If Phelps remains retired and wants to swim Masters, well there goes a few records in his age group but none of us in our club would have a problem with it. We discussed that very subject this morning after practice and Phelps, like Rowdy Gaines is retired and would welcome him. Many of us have swam against and met Rowdy and it is a true honor to share the pool with him in a Masters meet. But our entire team would have a huge problem if Lochte decides to swim a Masters meet while he is still fully training for the Olympics and blows all the records out of the water. If Lochte swims 12 events, he is going to walk away with 12 records. Why have a separate record book? If he can do that, you might as well just call us all USA swimmers and do away with the Masters division. There are meets where fully training pros swim and they are called Grand Prix’s, Nationals, and Worlds. Call us old fashioned, call us Masters swimmers, but we all think Masters should be separate from the training pros..
So I'm curious what the rest of you think. Should someone like Darian Townend or Ryan Lochte be allowed to swim in masters meets when they are professional swimmers who are training full-time? And maybe "allowed" is a poor choice or word. The bottom line is do you think they have any business swimming masters meets?
They are connected and we did not get off topic. The thread started with Darian Townsend participating in a sanctioning masters meet on November 13, 2013 and because of his participation he set a bunch of National/World Records. Because he is considered an elite in full training mode, should he be eligible to be a member of USMS and participate and with the result of his participation set National/World Records. If he is a member of an NGB Swimming Federation and going to meets against other professional swimmers or swimmers that can make time cuts at the highest level, should they be excluded from swimming in USMS and if they are allowed to swim in USMS and set a bunch of Records, then someone should judge what the "elites in full training mode" means and make a decision as to their membership in the organization and their eligibility to set records and make the USMS top ten list.
The thread started to get debatable because Britta brought up the fact that she has to compete with current or past National Team members. Rob had mentioned that she competes against Megan Jendrick and now Justine Mueller and that has lessen the fact that she would have more USMS Records and Number 1 Swims. That is true and as a I pointed, there are others that have been burdened with this and the only solution would be to exclude current National Team members from setting records. The thing I find interesting is why National Team members and not just everyone who can make an National, World, Olympic, and NCAA time cut. The meets that I linked on post 62 show many swimmers that compete as USMS members and they should be treated like everyone else and have the same rights such as setting records, if they achieve them.
Should swimmers that recently compete at the US Nationals, US Open, NCAA Championships, and any other high level meet not be eligible for Top Ten and Records. I will take my current example of Noah Copeland. He swam in 2009 at NCAA meets, USA meets, and would be considered by myself to be an "elite in full training mode" for that year of competition. Should he be excluded from swimming in USMS and setting USMS National Records? No. Should he be excluded from USMS Number 1 swims, USMS Top Ten lists, an All American selections because he happened to be swimming at the highest level meets during the 2009 year? No.
This is the kind of debates that will spring from this because of these discussions.
www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspxwww.usms.org/.../toptenind.phpwww.usms.org/.../poolrecords.php
They are connected and we did not get off topic. The thread started with Darian Townsend participating in a sanctioning masters meet on November 13, 2013 and because of his participation he set a bunch of National/World Records. Because he is considered an elite in full training mode, should he be eligible to be a member of USMS and participate and with the result of his participation set National/World Records. If he is a member of an NGB Swimming Federation and going to meets against other professional swimmers or swimmers that can make time cuts at the highest level, should they be excluded from swimming in USMS and if they are allowed to swim in USMS and set a bunch of Records, then someone should judge what the "elites in full training mode" means and make a decision as to their membership in the organization and their eligibility to set records and make the USMS top ten list.
The thread started to get debatable because Britta brought up the fact that she has to compete with current or past National Team members. Rob had mentioned that she competes against Megan Jendrick and now Justine Mueller and that has lessen the fact that she would have more USMS Records and Number 1 Swims. That is true and as a I pointed, there are others that have been burdened with this and the only solution would be to exclude current National Team members from setting records. The thing I find interesting is why National Team members and not just everyone who can make an National, World, Olympic, and NCAA time cut. The meets that I linked on post 62 show many swimmers that compete as USMS members and they should be treated like everyone else and have the same rights such as setting records, if they achieve them.
Should swimmers that recently compete at the US Nationals, US Open, NCAA Championships, and any other high level meet not be eligible for Top Ten and Records. I will take my current example of Noah Copeland. He swam in 2009 at NCAA meets, USA meets, and would be considered by myself to be an "elite in full training mode" for that year of competition. Should he be excluded from swimming in USMS and setting USMS National Records? No. Should he be excluded from USMS Number 1 swims, USMS Top Ten lists, an All American selections because he happened to be swimming at the highest level meets during the 2009 year? No.
This is the kind of debates that will spring from this because of these discussions.
www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspxwww.usms.org/.../toptenind.phpwww.usms.org/.../poolrecords.php
