Opinions wanted on this one -
I have a meet this weekend and on day 2 the 500 FR is seeded by time and gender (men are separated from women.) I am actually used to swimming mixed seeding in distance events.
Provided the meet director would accommodate me (and s/he may not), would you ask to be seeded with the men to get the full racing experience?
As it stands, I'm seeded 1st of the women (2nd place is 48 seconds behind) and I would be seeded 5th with the men.
The only other thing to consider is that if I swim with the women, I will have 1 hour rest until my next event. If I swim with the men, I will have about 30 minutes until my next event. And I have 3 events left to swim after the 500 FR.
And, to confirm, am I correct in assuming that if I swam with the men, the time would not count for USMS purposes due to my changing the event/ program order? But am I correct in assuming that my other swims would count assuming all the rules are followed?
This meet is for pure racing fun. Times are irrelevant for me. Oh, and I'm used to swimming by myself which I find sort of boring; however, I have gone PB's swimming solo or having competition. And, I will get creamed by some of the top men (will be a fast heat), but that does not bother me greatly. It's more of a learning experience.
Thanks!
Parents
Former Member
You may only be able to swim with the men if the meet referee (not the meet director) allows it since it would be a deviation with the sanctioned meet information. I am thinking that since it is a men's event you can't be seeded strictly by your entry time and would only be able to swim in an otherwise empty lane. The referee could assign you to the fastest heat where an empty lane was available. That would probably be the slowest heat and possibly the next-slowest heat.
If there was a no-show in a faster heat you could possibly swim earlier if you were waiting by the starter. Kind of like "stand by".
In Masters meets I've worked in before, there were some gamesmanship that seemed harmless but was abused. Motivations were to either be able to swim in the first possible heat (to be able to finish the meet earlier) or to swim in the last possible heat (to gauge the minimal effort needed to produce a win).
If the meet is scored/awarded, the guys should be able to swim against their peers that they are competing against.
Later - whoops, read your post about the Mixed seeding later. Problem solved.
You may only be able to swim with the men if the meet referee (not the meet director) allows it since it would be a deviation with the sanctioned meet information. I am thinking that since it is a men's event you can't be seeded strictly by your entry time and would only be able to swim in an otherwise empty lane. The referee could assign you to the fastest heat where an empty lane was available. That would probably be the slowest heat and possibly the next-slowest heat.
If there was a no-show in a faster heat you could possibly swim earlier if you were waiting by the starter. Kind of like "stand by".
In Masters meets I've worked in before, there were some gamesmanship that seemed harmless but was abused. Motivations were to either be able to swim in the first possible heat (to be able to finish the meet earlier) or to swim in the last possible heat (to gauge the minimal effort needed to produce a win).
If the meet is scored/awarded, the guys should be able to swim against their peers that they are competing against.
Later - whoops, read your post about the Mixed seeding later. Problem solved.
