Super teams

Since we have done away with team divisions, here is another look at the results of the recent nationals for Walnut Creek Masters Short Course Nationals 2003 WCM Women #3 WCM men #4 WCM Combined #3 Long Course Nationals 2003 WCM Women #18 WCM men #18 WCM Combined #20 Short Course Nationals 2004 WCM Women #4 WCM men #7 WCM Combined #4 Long Course Nationals 2004 WCM Women #10 WCM men #8 WCM Combined #8 Walnut Creek is a very good team. Even with our new scoring system of no divisions, but giving awards 10 deep, they did well. Consider this though. I just looked at the combined scores for these numbers. Short Course Nationals 2003 7 of the top 10 are superclubs 3rd was the highest finish of a regular club the 5th best regular club was 12th overall Long Course Nationals 2003 7 of the top 10 teams are superclubs 7th was the highest finish of a regular club the 5th best regular club was 18th overall Short Course Nationals 2004 6 of the top 10 are superclubs 2nd is the highest finish of a regular club (meet host) 4th was the higest finish if you don't count the host The 5th best regular club was 14th overall Long Course Nationals 2004 6 of the top 10 are superclubs 5th was the highest finish of a regular club The 5th best regular club was 17th overall A few observations about nationals that tend to hold true. The home team definietly has an advantage. When the meet is in your backyard, it is easiest for you to get the most swimmers there. The top few spots in most meets will be occupied by the teams in the immediate area. 2004 was unique because the host team was second in both cases. However, looking over the results, it does seem that the majority of the top spots are dominated by superclubs. There are some regular teams that place well, especially when the meet is geographically located near them. But when looking only at the 5th place regular club in no case were they good enough to place. A system of regular and superclubs competing separately would be more fair I think. At the same time, it would not take away from either group.

Since we have done away with team divisions, here is another look at the results of the recent nationals for Walnut Creek Masters Short Course Nationals 2003 WCM Women #3 WCM men #4 WCM Combined #3 Long Course Nationals 2003 WCM Women #18 WCM men #18 WCM Combined #20 Short Course Nationals 2004 WCM Women #4 WCM men #7 WCM Combined #4 Long Course Nationals 2004 WCM Women #10 WCM men #8 WCM Combined #8 Walnut Creek is a very good team. Even with our new scoring system of no divisions, but giving awards 10 deep, they did well. Consider this though. I just looked at the combined scores for these numbers. Short Course Nationals 2003 7 of the top 10 are superclubs 3rd was the highest finish of a regular club the 5th best regular club was 12th overall Long Course Nationals 2003 7 of the top 10 teams are superclubs 7th was the highest finish of a regular club the 5th best regular club was 18th overall Short Course Nationals 2004 6 of the top 10 are superclubs 2nd is the highest finish of a regular club (meet host) 4th was the higest finish if you don't count the host The 5th best regular club was 14th overall Long Course Nationals 2004 6 of the top 10 are superclubs 5th was the highest finish of a regular club The 5th best regular club was 17th overall A few observations about nationals that tend to hold true. The home team definietly has an advantage. When the meet is in your backyard, it is easiest for you to get the most swimmers there. The top few spots in most meets will be occupied by the teams in the immediate area. 2004 was unique because the host team was second in both cases. However, looking over the results, it does seem that the majority of the top spots are dominated by superclubs. There are some regular teams that place well, especially when the meet is geographically located near them. But when looking only at the 5th place regular club in no case were they good enough to place. A system of regular and superclubs competing separately would be more fair I think. At the same time, it would not take away from either group.