A swimmer from New Jersey recently contacted me because she was very put out about Nationals being in Oregon. She commented about how often Nationals are on the west coast - "Why do they always have to be there?" she said, disdainfully.
The comment piqued my interest. So I did a little research and found there really is a distinct trend.
In the last decade, USMS held 19 Nationals. Here's the geographic breakdown by time zone:
Eastern = 10 (53%)
Pacific = 5 (26%)
Central = 2 (11%)
Mountain = 1 (5%)
Hawaii = 1 (5%)
The rough distribution by time zone came in about the same for Nationals I've attended - 24 since 1992 - all but three in the last decade. That includes 9 when I lived in N.J. – I escaped N.J. by car in 1998…it took about 5 days – and 15 since living in Oregon. Half of the Nationals I've attended were in the Eastern Time zone, 25% were in Pacific, and 25% were in other time zones.
Between 1997 and 2007, Florida held four Nationals - more than any other state during that time period.
I've only been swimming for about 2 years. The only Nationals on the east coast during that time period was in FLA, still a ways for me. But I wasn't being disdainful. I don't really expect to be able to attend that many travel meets, or even meets in general, with my family obligations. But the data is very interesting. I'm hoping to make it to Austin next year. Otherwise, I'm mostly a zones meet attender, and I feel very lucky that zones are often local.
A swimmer from New Jersey recently contacted me because she was very put out about Nationals being in Oregon. She commented about how often Nationals are on the west coast - "Why do they always have to be there?" she said, disdainfully.
The comment piqued my interest. So I did a little research and found there really is a distinct trend.
In the last decade, USMS held 19 Nationals. Here's the geographic breakdown by time zone:
Eastern = 10 (53%)
Pacific = 5 (26%)
Central = 2 (11%)
Mountain = 1 (5%)
Hawaii = 1 (5%)
The rough distribution by time zone came in about the same for Nationals I've attended - 24 since 1992 - all but three in the last decade. That includes 9 when I lived in N.J. – I escaped N.J. by car in 1998…it took about 5 days – and 15 since living in Oregon. Half of the Nationals I've attended were in the Eastern Time zone, 25% were in Pacific, and 25% were in other time zones.
Between 1997 and 2007, Florida held four Nationals - more than any other state during that time period.
I've only been swimming for about 2 years. The only Nationals on the east coast during that time period was in FLA, still a ways for me. But I wasn't being disdainful. I don't really expect to be able to attend that many travel meets, or even meets in general, with my family obligations. But the data is very interesting. I'm hoping to make it to Austin next year. Otherwise, I'm mostly a zones meet attender, and I feel very lucky that zones are often local.
