There's a trend in this state (Rhode Island) that disappoints me. From time to time, in certain meets, they will do away with the 500 freestyle. And (when my daughter was on the HS team) I personally witnessed that it's sometimes because the coaches can't entice anyone to swim it. Lame! Sometimes it's because the team is so small that they don't have enough swimmers. OK...maybe! First, if I were the coach, and I have plenty of swimmers on my team, I pick a kid and tell him/her to get up on the blocks and swim the race!!! But...if the rules are going to be bent by not conducting an event...when a team is truly shorthanded...why not bend the rules differently? Instead of scratching an event, let certain swimmers compete in an extra event so that ALL the scheduled events can be competed?
Dan
Can't speak for anything other than high school but in NJ high school swimming our rules are the same as you mention. 4 events, no more than 2 individual. Can't speak
We could swim only 2 events (which included relays) when I swam for Westfield in the 60's. Imagine the points we could have scored had we been able to swim 2 events and 2 relays!
Westfield is still a perennial powerhouse in NJ high school swimming. I always wondered how they got such an amazing depth of talent. They are able to compete with the best private schools. It is impressive. When I swam in high school we got spanked by Westfield in the first round of the state tournament, they could have swam their C team and still probably beat us.
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I began my swimming career at Weequahic HS in Newark. When I showed a little bit of promise, my father decided to move to Westfield. Best thing that ever happened to me! We practiced at the Westfield Y for an hour a day, only 5 days a week. We did not have a pool at the school. We did not swim circles, but waves, so we had plenty of rest between swims. If we did 1500 yards a day, that was a lot. We swam from December to March for the HS, then March April for the Y. We did not do dry lands or year round swimming and some of the times we did then are still considered good.
We swam against The Hill School, The Lawrenceville School, Pingry and Newark Academy, also the Yale freshman and Princeton freshman at a time when freshman and upperclassmen had separate teams.
There was no recruiting at Westfield, but people knew of our reputation and moved to the town. Swimming was big in Westfield.
Dan, Yeah i've never had anything like that happen when I've been on the deck. I can not think of a situation where i'm not putting a kid in the 500. Like I said, the only thing we have ever done in a duel meet is combine boys and girls into one heat. That happens against one team every year that is very short on swimmers. They enter one girl in the 500, we put in our three girls and two of our boys all into one heat. Scored separately, but everyone swims at the same time. I can't really imagine a coach coming up to me and saying that they wanted to scratch the 500 from the meet. I'd be pretty offended as you should be.
Can't speak for anything other than high school but in NJ high school swimming our rules are the same as you mention. 4 events, no more than 2 individual. Can't speak
Westfield is still a perennial powerhouse in NJ high school swimming. I always wondered how they got such an amazing depth of talent. They are able to compete with the best private schools. It is impressive. When I swam in high school we got spanked by Westfield in the first round of the state tournament, they could have swam their C team and still probably beat us.
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How uniform are the rules for event numbers in the US? Club, HS, and College?
Very, actually. Any "club swimming" meets are governed by USA Swimming rules. High school swimming rules are also consistent. The order of events and number of events that a swimmer is allowed to swim is consistent from state-to-state. College swimming is governed by the NCAA. There are slight differences between Divisions 1, 2, and 3, but for the most part the rules governing competition are quite consistent.
Very, actually. Any "club swimming" meets are governed by USA Swimming rules. High school swimming rules are also consistent. The order of events and number of events that a swimmer is allowed to swim is consistent from state-to-state. College swimming is governed by the NCAA. There are slight differences between Divisions 1, 2, and 3, but for the most part the rules governing competition are quite consistent.
Is it only at the Olympics that they allow someone to enter more than 4 events (Spitz, Phelps,ect...)???
I think six events is the standard at USA Swimming meets, too.
USA Swimming
In prelim/finals meets the limit is 3 individual events per day
In timed final meets the limit is 5 individual events per day
So in a 3 day prelim/finals meet a swimmer may swim 9 individual events (18 swims if the swimmer finals in all 9 events)
In a 5 day timed finals meet a swimmer may swim in 25 events.
We practiced at the Westfield Y for an hour a day, only 5 days a week. We did not have a pool at the school. We did not swim circles, but waves, so we had plenty of rest between swims. If we did 1500 yards a day, that was a lot. We swam from December to March for the HS, then March April for the Y. We did not do dry lands or year round swimming and some of the times we did then are still considered good. There was no recruiting at Westfield, but people knew of our reputation and moved to the town. Swimming was big in Westfield.
My HS ('64-'67) swimming experience was pretty much the same in West Hartford CT, except we swam at a town pool (Cornerstone) and summer club pool. We had an AAU team too and would get in with them off-season. We moved to West Hartford from LI to be able to swim at facilities in that town. Without goggles, it was tough to stay in the pool for more than 1 hour anyway, and pool time was precious. 2k was a lot. Good news was I think it saved my shoulders for swimming later in life without injury and surgeries.
For the High School meets in our area, the 500 swimmer is either really strong or not strong. I have seen meets where the younger kids are entered in order to gain points by having a body in the pool, but others where there is a real race right to the finish.
