Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

Ahelee Sue Osborn — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:57:18 GMT

Check out our video! www.youtube.com/usMastersSwimming or directly to the NE LMSC Champs video: YouTube- USMS New England Masters Swimming SC Championships Thanks to Rob and USMS staff for putting it together! -Rick This video was REALLY cool Rick - CONGRATULATIONS to you and your crew! Locally I admire our Long Beach Grunions for the huge their huge success each year at the SCM Championships. But we can see that NEM is on the same exceptional level! Probably a warmer building found at Harvard than at Belmont Plaza!

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

osterber — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:47:20 GMT

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

Former Member — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:10:14 GMT

For those who were at the meet (or those who weren't), we have now posted all of the post-meet reports. This includes: * A full reproduction of the participation sticker certificates, complete with the certificate, and all of your stickers. You can print out your full sheet if you missed any stickers at the meet. * Full seed time analysis for the 960 swimmers who swam in one or more events. Best seeders, worst seeders, seed prize winners (swim matched seed exactly), honorable mentions (within 0.10 on any one event), and a full list of all swimmers and their seed time performance metrics. I appreciate all of the positive feedback on the meet, I really do. If anyone has any other feedback (either positive, or "constructive"), please feel free to post, or send me an email or PM. -Rick Rick, you, the officals crew and timers worked really hard to provide a great meet. A hearty thanks.

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

osterber — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:07:38 GMT

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

bbpolhill — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 12:54:12 GMT

I have been to hundreds of age group meets with my kids and only a few Masters meets, but this is easily the best run meet that I have ever been to. Rick makes it fun and informative with his frequent announcements and was always on top of record swims as they were approaching the finish. Not once in 3 days was any administrator or official responsible for slowing down the meet and with over 1000 swimmers and 30+ hours of swimming this is nothing short of a Herculean fete. Even when swimmers were slow to get to the blocks, Rick and the fantastic officials staff politely gave them a second chance to make it to their race. There were no stones left unturned in the prepartion of this meet and my teammates including my son (swimming in his first Masters meet) had a fantastic weekend. Thanks Rick, Cambridge Masters, and anybody else who had anything to do with the staging of this great event.

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

jbs — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:58:21 GMT

Totally agree with all the comments about how well the meet was run. I was there on distance day and Sat/Sun. Despite it's size, Rick and his team made sure that everything moved smoothly. Great job (well, really, an amazing job) to Rick, his staff, and all of the officials.

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

osterber — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:29:47 GMT

We had entries from 1064 swimmers this year. Not everyone showed up. Our largest meet in New England before this year was 859 entered swimmers. All said and done, we had almost 38 hours of competitive swimming. (I.e., time running swimming races, not including warmup time.) -Rick

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

aquageek — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:03:06 GMT

I just reviewed the meet results, that's a big meet.

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

DPC — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:02:33 GMT

Kudos to Rick and all the officials and the timers. As others have said, this was really a great event.

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

osterber — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:50:40 GMT

We thank everyone who came to the meet, and who tolerated our extremely long sessions. On Saturday, our session ran for 11 hours and 8 minutes. Unfortunately, that "showed" on Sunday, as we had a more scratches than we expected, and it was clear that some people had run out of gas. For those confused by the 3.5 second comment.... At our meet, we run the heats with about 6 seconds between heats when we get moving in the later heats. What we struggle with is that people want to cheer for people who just finished their races. At the same time, we're stepping people up for the next heat, and want it quiet for the start. So at one point I (tongue firmly in cheek) instructed the crowd that after each race, they had exactly 3.5 seconds to cheer, and then they needed to simmer down and be quiet. :-) We constantly struggle to keep things moving as quickly as we can, while at the same trying to make sure every swimmer in every race gets a fair start. We will have more results posted tonight, and in a day or two I will have the full seed time analysis posted to see how we did with our seeding this year. And yes, for the most part, I'm in the booth on the mic and running the computers for the entire session. I do have some help so that I was able to take a 10 minute break on Saturday and Sunday during the first couple of heats of a 200 stroke event. At least I get to be sitting down most of the time. The officials were on deck for 11 hours... standing almost the whole time. -Rick

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

Gdavis — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:45:20 GMT

I second that, Fritz! Everything about the meet was great. Did you take a single break over those 3 days? It seemed that you were announcing every minute of every day. Thanks for putting on a gtreat event! Gigi :applaud::applaud::applaud::applaud:

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

gigi — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:45:47 GMT

Hi Rick, We just got back from the meet and I'd like to complement you. The meet was very well run, smooth as it could be. Good announcing too, by the way. Giving us 3.5 seconds between heats to cheer was a nice touch :D. Many thanks, Fritz I second that, Fritz! Everything about the meet was great. Did you take a single break over those 3 days? It seemed that you were announcing every minute of every day. Thanks for putting on a gtreat event! Gigi

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

fritznh — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:19:55 GMT

And for those following along at home... we do have real-time online scoreboard, instant results online, and an audio/video stream from the pool. So if you really want, walking around with your iPhone, you can watch the meet, and listen to me announcing each heat. www.meetresults.com/.../ -Rick Hi Rick, We just got back from the meet and I'd like to complement you. The meet was very well run, smooth as it could be. Good announcing too, by the way. Giving us 3.5 seconds between heats to cheer was a nice touch :D. Many thanks, Fritz

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

osterber — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:49:42 GMT

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

Former Member — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:50:48 GMT

Oh yeah... we were not questioning what happened. We just thought it was hilarious. We were goofing with the officials for the rest of the day because of that. Keep an eye out for us... We are the Bearcat Masters from NYC and last weekend, we were the group to your right, next to your little booth. Hopefully, we'll be in the same spot this weekend.

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

Former Member — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:01:40 GMT

I was there this past weekend for the 1650 (21:09 for my first time swimming it!) and I'll be there Fri, Sat, Sun. 1000 people is alot... The pool deck will be pretty crowded this year.

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

osterber — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:48:36 GMT

Things will be more crowded than in the past, but our facility is rather large. We will max out around 800 swimmers in any single day. Our spectator area seats 1200 people and is connected to the deck. We'll have 11 lanes open for warmup and warm-down during the entire meet. (6 lanes are 25 yards long, 5 lanes are about 28.6 yards long.) Unfortunately, the weather next week-end will not be as beautiful as it was this week-end for distance day, so most everyone will be stuck inside. However, for those with lots of time between events, Harvard Square is a short walk over the bridge so you can disappear for an hour away from the pool, and come back for your later events. We keep our timeline updated online continuously, so if you've got an iPhone or other mobile device, you can get an update on the timeline while you're away from the pool. -Rick

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

Former Member — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:32:33 GMT

Rick... are you the announcer at the meet by any chance? Also, if anyone was there for distance day, it was my friend (I was counting) that ended up doing the 1700 Freestyle instead of the 1650!! What a fun day that was.

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

osterber — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:56:24 GMT

Yes, I'm the announcer, timing operator, online facilitator, and meet director. (When watching 13 lanes swimming 1650s... sometimes we lose track of lengths. Especially with later faster heats, where pad misses are much more rare... if there's a discrepancy, we usually advise the swimmer to swim an extra 50, just in case. We've had many cases where a counter mis-counted, and the swimmer stopped early and got out, resulting in a DQ. So we would much rather err by having someone swim an extra 50. We then double-check the splits after the swim and determine which finish was the correct finish. In this case, the counter was right... there was a missed pad with about 200 yards to go.) -Rick

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

Chris Stevenson — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:47:33 GMT

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

pwolf66 — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:01:09 GMT

Great, now we actually have to behave. Since when????

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

jessicafk11 — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 07:18:47 GMT

I had wanted to attend this, but given how little swimming I was able to get in during the first couple months+ of this year, it clearly was not meant to be this year. Hope everyone that is able to attend has a great meet!

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

DPC — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:04:08 GMT

Also worth mentioning... we will have some representation from the USMS National Office at the meet. And they're bringing some give-aways! -Rick Great, now we actually have to behave.

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

Former Member — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:11:12 GMT

I'll be there!!

RE: Anyone going to NELMSC SCY at Harvard in Cambridge MA?

osterber — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:09:24 GMT

Also worth mentioning... we will have some representation from the USMS National Office at the meet. And they're bringing some give-aways! -Rick