Open the Masters Records?

I think Jeff does have a point and I agree that a USAS swimmer and a USMS swimmer are different beasts and in reality need different organizations. The more I think about it I think that a masters record should be set by a masters swimmer. My mind is changed. There are a small handful of "professional" masters swimmers though. And they do set records by the boatload. Unfortunately it does make some of the records a little arbitrary knowing that there are dozens of swimmers out there who could beat them if they decided they had nothing better to do one weekend than swim a local masters meet. Say in some imaginary world I was able to break the 200 *** LCM record. I would feel thrilled and proud to have my name on a list somewhere, but it would also feel a little weird thinking I only have it because the 30 people also in my age group who are swimming faster just aren't doing it at a masters meet. I, of course, in no means want to belittle the achievement of getting a top 10 or record, world, national, or otherwise. I think it's an amazing fact to see, in reality, just how close the masters records are to the "real" records, and Karen like you say, 99% of those are set by people whose lives are not swimming and only swimming. Oh, and I don't think there should be any team scoring at championship meets either, for the arbitrariness we get from the whole small vs. large vs. local vs. regional mess. Swimming's an individual sport and relays would be more fun if they were open. But that's a different argument :)

I think Jeff does have a point and I agree that a USAS swimmer and a USMS swimmer are different beasts and in reality need different organizations. The more I think about it I think that a masters record should be set by a masters swimmer. My mind is changed. There are a small handful of "professional" masters swimmers though. And they do set records by the boatload. Unfortunately it does make some of the records a little arbitrary knowing that there are dozens of swimmers out there who could beat them if they decided they had nothing better to do one weekend than swim a local masters meet. Say in some imaginary world I was able to break the 200 *** LCM record. I would feel thrilled and proud to have my name on a list somewhere, but it would also feel a little weird thinking I only have it because the 30 people also in my age group who are swimming faster just aren't doing it at a masters meet. I, of course, in no means want to belittle the achievement of getting a top 10 or record, world, national, or otherwise. I think it's an amazing fact to see, in reality, just how close the masters records are to the "real" records, and Karen like you say, 99% of those are set by people whose lives are not swimming and only swimming. Oh, and I don't think there should be any team scoring at championship meets either, for the arbitrariness we get from the whole small vs. large vs. local vs. regional mess. Swimming's an individual sport and relays would be more fun if they were open. But that's a different argument :)