I propose a rule change for the championship committee. If someone misses their heat at USMS Nationals due to general stupidity and day dreaming, they should be allowed to swim in an open lane in that same event.
John Smith
(2006 psuedo champion, 50yd back)
Originally posted by knelson
Do you really think this is reasonable for a meet the size of Nationals, though?
I can't say for sure. I've never been to USMS nationals. But we do this at the New England Masters SCY Champs each spring, which is over 700 swimmers.
Speaking as the guy at the computer table, if it takes 5 seconds to get you into the right lane, that's time better spent than the several minutes it will take me to move you around later on, when you discover you missed your event, and talk to the referee, and they try to find an empty lane, and then an empty lane appears, and then you jump in, and I scratch the original person, etc., etc., etc. It's a lot easier if you swim in your assigned spot.
However, for our 700-swimmer meet, every swim is positive check-in an hour before it swims. So we have much fewer empty lanes.
-Rick
Originally posted by knelson
Do you really think this is reasonable for a meet the size of Nationals, though?
I can't say for sure. I've never been to USMS nationals. But we do this at the New England Masters SCY Champs each spring, which is over 700 swimmers.
Speaking as the guy at the computer table, if it takes 5 seconds to get you into the right lane, that's time better spent than the several minutes it will take me to move you around later on, when you discover you missed your event, and talk to the referee, and they try to find an empty lane, and then an empty lane appears, and then you jump in, and I scratch the original person, etc., etc., etc. It's a lot easier if you swim in your assigned spot.
However, for our 700-swimmer meet, every swim is positive check-in an hour before it swims. So we have much fewer empty lanes.
-Rick
