Wondering what some of the unofficial records are at short-course nationals:
Most consecutive meets attended ?
Most meets attended and estimated travel mileage for all those meets ?
Most consecutive wins in an event ?
Most Titles ?
Swimmers winning a "dceade" in an event - meaning winning a race every year in their 40ies, 50 ies or so on ?
Has anybody won every event (over several years of course) - if not who has won the most different events ?
Any other mosts you can think of ... ?
Note this post Michael Moore!
I think it was 1997 Nationals. Michael Moore DQs BOTH Duggan's. Pat in the 400 IM, which he won by more than half a body length (he cited that one hand was 'about an inch' lower than the other on one breaststroke turn), and then DQd me in 200 back, where I got 2nd (close to 1st I think), because on my first turn I "glided" into the wall- but only on the first turn (when I had the most speed you know).
Michael was NOT a very popular person in our house for some time. But now I've got to know him and really like him. And more than that he has contributed SO MUCH to Pacific Masters and USMS both. His efforts are tremendous, as are Nancy Ridout's and Barry Fasbenders. (But they didn't DQ us!).
There have been two ties since 1972.
Hey, I know the answer to this quiz! Nancy Hogshead and Carrie Steinseifer in the 100 free in 1984 and Gary Hall Jr and Anthony Ervin in the 50 in 2000. Interesting that both times it was U.S. swimmers who tied. I remember in the '84 race the timing console actually displayed results out to .001, but the official times only went to .01.
I'm sure some people might wonder, if they have the technology to time out to that accuracy, why not do it? I think there's sound scientific reason not to. Let's assume 2.5 m/s is the fastest possible swimming speed (Fred Bousquet's recent swim in the 50 free comes out to 2.39 m/s). In 0.001 seconds swimming at that speed you'd cover 2.5/1000 = 0.0025 meters or 2.5 mm (very close to 0.1 inch). Fina rules allow a positive tolerance of 3 cm on pool length, so timing out to 0.001 second really does not makes sense since the tolerance on the length of the pool is an order of magnitude greater than the timing resolution. Ina race of 50 meters some swimmers might have to swim 3 cm more than other swimmers and the pool would still be perfectly legal. At 2.5 m/s this would take them 0.012 seconds.
I'm betting my pet swine that I'll show up at Clovis with the MOST red wine from Paso Robles. Any takers?
If you're looking for takers to help you "deal" with all of that, ask and ye shall receive a multitude of assistance.
Here is a stat for you about my friend Bob Strand. Since 1991 (missed three years in early 2000's) 50,100 200 *** SCY Nats 36-5, LC nats 31-2 and World's 17-1 84 wins and 8 losses in his career.
I sure hope all this talk about Bob Strand doesn't go to his head... :bolt:
Scuttlebut is that Strand is going to handicap himself this year by swimming with one arm tied behind his back- to give everyone else a chance to think they could maybe beat him.
Jim Clemmons writes:
How about most DQ's?
Anybody have a handle on someone with a bad luck streak?
I have a teammate that can vie for this title. Here are his DQs at Nationals that come to mind off the top of my head:
1997 Seattle: 100 IM (false start, was seeded 1st and had the national record going into the swim)
2000 Indy: 50 free (false start)
2000 UMBC: 50 back (swam the race and broke the WR only to find out he flinched on the start and got DQd)
2003 Tempe: 100 back (swam the race and won by a bodylength but got DQd for flinching on the start)
2006 Coral Springs: 200 Med Rel (led off with 50 back USMS record, freestyler "jumped" so the relay was DQd and the leadoff record didn't count)
I won't give his name. But I suppose we can give him the nickname Twitch?!
Regarding Nationals attendance: I went to 6 or 7 meets as a spectator before I was eligible (old enough) to swim. I did manage to sneak into the competition pool during warms ups in Indy when I was 14 (1983). I don't think USMS had warmup Marshalls back then! I was also served beer at the social in Providence when I was only 16 (1985)! I don't think we had USMS Legal Counsel back then! :) As a swimmer I've competed in 22 Nationals plus one Worlds (Stanford). But at this rate I still don't think I'll ever catch June Krauser or Ted Haartz! :bow:
The SCNats in Stanford in mid-80's, on the first day earned the title of fewest number of toilets per competitors; the next day the greatest number of porta-potties seen at a swim meet; the following day the highest bids on rolls of toilet paper after said portables ran out.
There. I knew you wanted to know real milestones rather than routine stuff. How about Nats with most lightning delays or say, longest delay waiting for paramedics to arrive?
