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 those of you who expect heats to be reasonably competitive, dial back your expectations. This is masters swimming, the person next to you on the blocks is there just as likely from a made up time that is too fast as a made up time that is too slow.
While I agree with most of your post, it ignores the basic tenet of sportsmanship, if that is important, or fair, or both, probably neither.
It's my hunch, but not something that I can prove that the faster 2-3 heats in most meets have accurate seed times, or seed times based on experience (and possibly on experienced sandbagging).
Ironically, in some meets the fastest heat can be the least competitive, with the ultra fast swimmers in lanes 4 and 5 and some hangers-on in the other lanes. It brings back the fond memories of being in the same heat of the 1000 with Justine Mueller and Joseph Arnold.
Oh, and if you post pictures of yourself with Strawberry Shortcake lunch attire, you are prohibited from making fun of arguing about nothing.
For those of you who expect heats to be reasonably competitive, dial back your expectations. This is masters swimming, the person next to you on the blocks is there just as likely from a made up time that is too fast as a made up time that is too slow.
While I agree with most of your post, it ignores the basic tenet of sportsmanship, if that is important, or fair, or both, probably neither.
It's my hunch, but not something that I can prove that the faster 2-3 heats in most meets have accurate seed times, or seed times based on experience (and possibly on experienced sandbagging).
Ironically, in some meets the fastest heat can be the least competitive, with the ultra fast swimmers in lanes 4 and 5 and some hangers-on in the other lanes. It brings back the fond memories of being in the same heat of the 1000 with Justine Mueller and Joseph Arnold.
Oh, and if you post pictures of yourself with Strawberry Shortcake lunch attire, you are prohibited from making fun of arguing about nothing.
