With the continued growth in USMS membership, I would submit that it's time to eliminate the regional teams at Nationals. Case in point: NCMS sent a "team" of 123 swimmers to Atlanta, enough to enter A, B, C, and D relays in many events (e.g. the mens 35+ 200 free relay in which our club team placed 13th behind eight regional teams). It's been argued that the formation of regional teams allows more swimmers to participate in relays, yet local clubs from North Carolina sent as many as thirty or more athletes and could have entered relays on their own as our club (with eight swimmers) did. Swim with the guys you actually train with.
Sadly, when we had Small, Medium and Large categories there were isolated incidents of teams asking their slower swimmers to stay home. Similarly, some asked for their slower swimmers to switch to Unattached status for the meet so they wouldn't count against the number of swimmers (in case it helped them stay in a smaller category for scoring).
How the heck do coaches get away with this kind of thing???
Oh right... their swimmers let them.
Sadly, when we had Small, Medium and Large categories there were isolated incidents of teams asking their slower swimmers to stay home. Similarly, some asked for their slower swimmers to switch to Unattached status for the meet so they wouldn't count against the number of swimmers (in case it helped them stay in a smaller category for scoring).
How the heck do coaches get away with this kind of thing???
Oh right... their swimmers let them.
