2014 Canadian Nationals

​Meet website updated: http://www.cmsc2014.ca/ Event order is (you have to download the 4.0 MB pdf meet info package to find it): Friday Afternoon 1500 free 200 IM 50 back 100 fly 4 x 50 mixed free relay Saturday Morning 400 free 50 fly 100 *** 4 x 50 mixed medley relay Saturday Afternoon 4 x 100 medley relay 200 back 100 free 4 x 100 mixed medley relay Sunday Morning 200 free 50 *** 100 back 4 x 50 medley relay Sunday Afternoon 4 x 100 free relay 200 fly 100 IM 4 x 100 mixed free relay Monday Morning 800 free 200 *** 50 free 400 IM 4 x 50 free relay Each individual may enter 7 individual events plus all relays. Registration is limited to 1000 swimmers.

You can see the 2012 event order here: cmsc2012.ca/schedule.html The order of events is not consistent year to year but they seem to always do the 1500m on the Friday. LCM or SCM seems to be up to the host, not following any pattern. I would expect the registration to open soon. Canadian Nationals are always SCM =)

Registration is limited to 1000 swimmers. A year or two ago there was a thread about distance events at USMS Nationals. Specifically, somebody commented that swimmers can't enter both the 800/1000 and 1500/1650 at USMS Nationals but they could at Canadian Masters Nationals and it was suggested USMS should be more flexible if Canada can somehow offer the double. With a 1000 swimmer limit for a short course meet, I can now see why Canada can be more flexible for the distance event sessions. If USMS Short Course Nationals was (were?) limited to 1000 swimmers (and had two courses), we could offer the double as well. Jeff

... it was suggested USMS should be more flexible if Canada can somehow offer the double. From the meet information package, The 800m and 1500m events may be seeded to be swum two (2) per lane at the discretion of the Meet Manager. Is this the kind of flexibility you had in mind?

As far as I can tell from the website, registration isn't available yet. Event Order here (now without burdensome download).

Canadian Nationals are always SCM =)They were LCM last in 2010. They are usually SCM though.

No, it was just that I now realize it wasn't a fair demand for somebody to say if Canadian Masters Nationals can permit distance swimmers to swim both, why can't USMS?We do allow 2 per lane. See USMS rule 102.10.4 Two-to-a-Lane Seeding in Distance Freestyle Events. However, 2 per lane makes it real difficult for the automated timing staff. On the rare occations when we have done this I will have a backup timing operator assisting to keep track of touches and finishes.

I have a hard time believing that people would be happy with two-per-lane at a USMS national championship. Let's face it, distance swimmers will complain no matter what you do! ...but I still think we're better than sprinters in this regard.

I have a hard time believing that people would be happy with two-per-lane at a USMS national championship. Actually, there was a time that we used to do two to a lane at all the Nationals as an option. This was a long time ago before live results, before the internet, and in some cases swimmers were forced to swim two to a lane because of time constraints. The first time I ever remember swimming two to a lane was Buffalo 1 in 1988 Long Course Nationals. At that time there was a record # of swimmers signed up for both the 800 Free and 1500 Free and they could pull it off with the timing system. We had to do it otherwise the meet would not end until 2:00 AM. I believe Rob Copeland was at this meet and he swam two to a lane. I remember one of the international meets in Indianapolis, either the 1989 Pan Pacific meet or the 1992 World Meet that swimmers swam the 800 Free two to a lane. It was probably 1992, because I remember this being done in Long Course and not in Short Course. With bulkheads, I don't remember it being done in short course. Long Course would always have 2 pads, so I think it was done mostly in those meets. I going to say for about 7 or 8 years this was an option for swimmers to choose on the entry form. The swimmers that decided to swim two to a lane on distance would be the first ones to swim regardless of age and regardless of time and the slow heats would start first and once they were over, the meet would start one to a lane. I think I swam in Grand Forks in 1989 and Elizabethtown in 1991 that way because I did not want to swim late in the day. Those meets were both Long Course Nationals. I know in 1996 at the University of Michigan, we still swam that way and I not sure when this option ended. I found my May/June 1996 issue of Swim Magazine with Whitney Hedgepeth on the cover and the found the meet information and entry form and if you wanted to swim two to a lane you would place and X in the T column and you knew you would be swimming earlier than you would if you swam one to a lane. Sometimes swimmers would sandbag their times with two to a lane because they did not want to hang around the pool that day. I am not sure swimmers liked the two to a lane but with the option of not staying at the pool all day swimmers would take the two to a lane option. If I recall I think there was only about 3 or 4 heats of swimmers that would pick this option. I think when live results came in, it was stopped. Maybe Jim Matysek would remember because those were the early days of the National Results being live on the USMS server.

I have a hard time believing that people would be happy with two-per-lane at a USMS national championship.I'll agree with you for short course, but, for long course, assuming I'd ever be in shape enough to swim both, I'd do it. I'm not sure about other USAS meets, but they do the two-swimmers per lane at the Northwest Sectional meet in Fort Hood for long course. It's not optimal, but it is efficient. Other options include: For SCY Nationals, create a 5 day event, with a distance day on each end of the meet, one for the 1000 and one for the 1,650. For LCM, permanently move all Nationals to Stanford where we have two 10 lane 50 meter courses. (Please, Fresnoid, do not chime in and offer 100+ degree Clovis) For either course length, weather permitting, find a city like Mesa or Clovis where the distance day can be run in two pools with men in one pool and women in another, but offering both events (1000 and 1650) at each pool. As for the Canadians, I think we should be shamed by their participation levels. We are getting our butts kicked by a people who have to de-ice their pools before every workout! We have 10x the number of people in our country and we struggle to get 2,000 people at our Nationals. They have a limit of 1,000 swimmers. Until we get to the 10,000 swimmer entry limit, I think we should just be saying, Go Canada!:canada: