The anti-sandbag law:
"if a swimmer enters an event with a time significantly slower or faster than that swimmer's recorded time in the past two years, the meet director may, after a discussion with the swimmer, change the seeded time to a realistic time" (104.5.5.A(10)).
Concerning my Auburn nationals entry, I confess, when faced with a 7 hour 2 stop flight and 3:45 nonstop at an earlier time, I did what any warm-blooded middle-aged American swimmer with low self-esteem would do--sandbag my entry so I could catch the earlier flight, thus diminishing the possible time spent sitting next to a 400 pound Alabama slammer with sleep apnea wearing nothing but overalls and body odor. Of course, I was caught in my bold fabrication and my time was "fixed."
USMS seems to have an identity problem. Are we hard core with rigid qualifying times? It would seem not as 2 of my not-so-speedy family members were allowed to swim four events last year in Puerto Rico. If we are not hard core, why does anybody care that I sandbag? More to the point, why can one person enter a crappy time and another cannot? Just wondering.:)
For the record, I generally hate sandbagging. I often swim the mile locally by myself at local meets as others have entered NT. Kirk's point of extending the meet is valid at least on a local level as the slow swimmers are then spread over 2 heats rather than just one. Not sure if it would have that kind of impact on a larger scale (or perhaps it would be worse).
Rotating fastest to slowest and slowest to fastest would seem fair as USMS consistently favors slower swimmers with more desirable times to swim (although I do love swimming the mile at 8 pm or later every year while everybody else is cozy in bed or eating dinner). Also, as a side benefit, fastest to slowest would obviate any desire to sandbag.
For the record, I generally hate sandbagging. I often swim the mile locally by myself at local meets as others have entered NT. Kirk's point of extending the meet is valid at least on a local level as the slow swimmers are then spread over 2 heats rather than just one. Not sure if it would have that kind of impact on a larger scale (or perhaps it would be worse).
Rotating fastest to slowest and slowest to fastest would seem fair as USMS consistently favors slower swimmers with more desirable times to swim (although I do love swimming the mile at 8 pm or later every year while everybody else is cozy in bed or eating dinner). Also, as a side benefit, fastest to slowest would obviate any desire to sandbag.
