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It's a quirk that happens with the seed-by-age algorithm. You're in the 45-49 age group. The fastest 45-49 swimmers are in heat 12. Then heats 11 and heat 10. So the fastest 30 swimmers in the 45-49 age group fill heats 12, 11, 10. There are 34 swimmers in the event aged 45-49. So the remaining 4 swimmers get scattered. Mary Anne Savage and Susan Nolte end up in heat 7. They're the #31 and #32 seeds. Lanes 1-8 of that heat are the 50-54 year olds, and the two of them get lanes 9 and 10. So that leaves you and Anna Lea to fit in somewhere. Heat 6 starts the fastest 55-59 year olds. So the 55-59 year olds fill heat 6, and all of heat 5. No space yet. Then the 60-64 year olds fill all of heat 4. There are 11 swimmers in 60-64, so one person gets left in the cold. (Sue Cosper) So then we get back to heat #3. Lanes 1-7 are filled with the remaining 55-59 year olds (There were 27 of them, so they fill heats 6 and 5, and then the leftovers fall back to 7 lanes of heat 3.) So now we've got 3 empty lanes to fill. Lanes 8-9 get the two leftover 45-49 year olds (you and Anne Lea), and lane 10 is the one leftover 60-64 year old (Sue Cosper). What stinks for you is that the algorithm does not require that all four leftovers in your age group swim together. For details about how this works, see: www.usms.org/.../part1.pdf Specifically rule 104.5.5, which talks about seeding at national championship meets. The line A(7) specifically talks about the 'leftovers'. The rule doesn't actually require that, with 4 leftovers, they be swum at least as pairs. In a 10-lane pool, there could be 9 'leftovers' in an age group. The rules, as far as I can see, allow for those 9 leftovers to be scattered among 9 different heats, so that they would all be swimming "by themselves" with regards to age group scoring. -Rick Rick, THANK YOU for fully explaining this to me! :applaud: NOW I understand! :agree: But, it does stink... :bitching: Bobinator, I knew the pyramid theory was not correct, because I have the fastest time in my heat by 2+ seconds, but I'm placed in lane 8 out of 10! :confused: So, Rick's explanation makes total sense, even though it's a bummer for me. The closest swimmers to my time are located in lanes 4 and 5. My seed time is 10+ seconds faster than one swimmer next to me and 23+ seconds faster than the swimmer on the other side of me! :bitching: And, the swimmer next to Anna Lea is 33+ seconds slower than her!! On the positive side, I won't have any trouble finding Anna Lea, one of the swimmers on my list to meet in person! :D Anna Lea, we can console each other for being "leftovers"! :bighug: That's what I get for being a new Masters swimmer, having just one qualifying meet in since February!

It's a quirk that happens with the seed-by-age algorithm. You're in the 45-49 age group. The fastest 45-49 swimmers are in heat 12. Then heats 11 and heat 10. So the fastest 30 swimmers in the 45-49 age group fill heats 12, 11, 10. There are 34 swimmers in the event aged 45-49. So the remaining 4 swimmers get scattered. Mary Anne Savage and Susan Nolte end up in heat 7. They're the #31 and #32 seeds. Lanes 1-8 of that heat are the 50-54 year olds, and the two of them get lanes 9 and 10. So that leaves you and Anna Lea to fit in somewhere. Heat 6 starts the fastest 55-59 year olds. So the 55-59 year olds fill heat 6, and all of heat 5. No space yet. Then the 60-64 year olds fill all of heat 4. There are 11 swimmers in 60-64, so one person gets left in the cold. (Sue Cosper) So then we get back to heat #3. Lanes 1-7 are filled with the remaining 55-59 year olds (There were 27 of them, so they fill heats 6 and 5, and then the leftovers fall back to 7 lanes of heat 3.) So now we've got 3 empty lanes to fill. Lanes 8-9 get the two leftover 45-49 year olds (you and Anne Lea), and lane 10 is the one leftover 60-64 year old (Sue Cosper). What stinks for you is that the algorithm does not require that all four leftovers in your age group swim together. For details about how this works, see: www.usms.org/.../part1.pdf Specifically rule 104.5.5, which talks about seeding at national championship meets. The line A(7) specifically talks about the 'leftovers'. The rule doesn't actually require that, with 4 leftovers, they be swum at least as pairs. In a 10-lane pool, there could be 9 'leftovers' in an age group. The rules, as far as I can see, allow for those 9 leftovers to be scattered among 9 different heats, so that they would all be swimming "by themselves" with regards to age group scoring. -Rick Rick, THANK YOU for fully explaining this to me! :applaud: NOW I understand! :agree: But, it does stink... :bitching: Bobinator, I knew the pyramid theory was not correct, because I have the fastest time in my heat by 2+ seconds, but I'm placed in lane 8 out of 10! :confused: So, Rick's explanation makes total sense, even though it's a bummer for me. The closest swimmers to my time are located in lanes 4 and 5. My seed time is 10+ seconds faster than one swimmer next to me and 23+ seconds faster than the swimmer on the other side of me! :bitching: And, the swimmer next to Anna Lea is 33+ seconds slower than her!! On the positive side, I won't have any trouble finding Anna Lea, one of the swimmers on my list to meet in person! :D Anna Lea, we can console each other for being "leftovers"! :bighug: That's what I get for being a new Masters swimmer, having just one qualifying meet in since February!