Swimmers,
this is a continuation of a topic from the 'Top Ten Link' thread I posted earlier. In that thread, there was a discussion about keeping track of ALL swim times, so that everyone could see how he/she was doing. This is an update on that project.
At the start of long-course season, I volunteered to round up as many sanctioned meets for Jim Matysek as I could, to be put into the USMS searchable database, found at:
www.usms.org/.../toptimes.shtml.
I know of 49 meets (as of last weekend) that have had results posted to LMSC or Zone web sites. Of that number 44 are in the database, for a yield of about 90%. I would encourage each of you to usethis tool to see how you like it. It is not completely error-free since I had to manually-convert HTML files and Word documents for about half of all meets. I even hand-entered a couple of PDF files, which are the worst to deal with. Please let me know if you find any errors in what you see.
I think this shows that we CAN archive all the meets with a bit of work. Certainly, it's managable for LCM and SCM courses -- maybe not yet for SCY.
If you find this a valuable service, you can help by encouraging meet directors to submit their meet results to the USMS.
Enjoy!
Mel Dyck
Former Member
I for one have enjoyed keeping up with the times. Right now I'm waiting on the DC Masters Results to get posted. Attempting to improve my position has become a great motivation to go to practice!
I think this is a neat idea, and applaud all of the hard work. FYI, I'm getting an "error -- file not found" message when I click on the URL right now though. (~7pm PDT Wed)
--Brad
Great database and very useful!!! Having just completed my very first competition this past weekend @ DC Masters meet, it's great to see it in the database and know I really did it.
A side note: To all who participate on this forum, thank you all for so much helpful advice and support. You all were a great help in pushing me to compete and go for it. My 1st competition was absolutely a great experience and accomplishment. Now it's onward to train for the next meet.
Dan
Neat tool. Interesting observation: I am currently sitting at 25 in the M40-44 400m free, but seeded 27th in the LCN 400 with a time that is over 20 seconds faster! If I had not been to Nationals before, and know who will likely show-up and that the seeding is about right, I would be asking the question of who's jivin' who?
I suppose this database begs the question of whether we are going to start asking people to demonstrate they have in fact swam that NQT they entered for Nationals. Inevitable I suppose, but I cringe at the thought of all the rule-making, and resulting arguments, this will entail.
Matt
I see that MOST of the Maryland's LMSC SC meets (01-02 season) did not get submitted. I will and get this fixed for the coming year.
Is it worth it to have the LMSC representitive send in last seasons results??? (any thought)
Hey Mike,
thanks for the offer to help. That's exactly what we need to get this project a real head of steam.
As for previous year's results, I think Jim may want to comment on this. My understanding is that, at the moment, we cannot easily access the past year's data in the same way it is accessed for the current year. But, this will change at some time in the (hopefully near) future when some major software changes are completed (more complicated than just changing a few lines of code). At that point, ALL data will be important for the archive. Here in Arizona, for example, our records chairman is already organized to submit these data when it becomes useful. So, some advance work wouldn't hurt. It's just not as urgent, maybe, as getting current results in a timely way.
mel
Matt some of these people only swim at nationals. I notice that one of the top breastrokers in my age group who placed 10 ten in short course hasn't swam the 50 meter or 100 meter breastrokes yet, and is entered for the national meet. So, this might explain what is going on. Good Job Matt, 27th is not bad for the 400 meter and there still meets left. Like you I look up my times, pretty good in the 50 meter breastroke at 15 right now but will probably go down to 30th at the end after all the long course meets are over. And lower in the 100 meter breastroke at 29th which will probably end up between 35th and 40th or higher at by the end.
