Very shortly, the Executive Committee (EC) is expected to make its “final” ruling in the cases of the meets held in SCM pools that have subsequently been measured short of 25m, including the 2001 Northwest Zone SCM Championship meet held in Beaverton OR.
I know that the meet director, Oregon Masters Swimming (OMS), and I are eager to have a final decision made. I guess that I’m so eager that I want to get the word out now about it. As the zone rep and a director in this corporation, I’ll certainly abide by the decision when it comes.
Much has happened behind the scenes since early January, when the EC made a ruling that stated that the times from the Northwest Zone (NWZ) meet would not be recognized for official purposes. Most of this activity centers on another SCM meet held in a different LMSC which also was found to be short of 25m.
On January 4, the Records and Tabulations Committee (R&T) decided to accept the times from the NWZ meet for Top Ten consideration (not for USMS records). During the discussion, it was brought to light that the times from the other SCM meet had previously been accepted for the Top Ten. This precedent was one of the factors that led R&T to decide to accept the NWZ times.
On January 9, the EC made its decision to reject the NWZ times. This is the decision that was announced on January 13 by Sandi Rousseau in the USMS website discussion forum.
Since then, there has been much discussion about the legitimacy and impact of the EC’s January 9th decision. The organizer of the other SCM meet appealed to the EC to reconsider the decision, citing the facts that pool certification is not required for Top Ten times and that the same pool was later being used for other competitions (high school and USA Swimming) where times achieved were eligible for USA Swimming’s Top-16 listings.
The Rules Committee has apparently voted to reject the times from the SCM meets and is forwarding the basis for its vote to the EC, which will base its “final” ruling upon it.
The “final” ruling is expected to be that the times from the SCM meets will not be recognized for any official purpose. The basis is a violation of Rule 107.2.2B and consequently Rule 103.13.1 (“An official time shall be achieved in a USMS sanctioned competition or recognized event in accordance with all applicable rules.”) causes the times to be rejected.
