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.:)
Parents
Former Member
I'm glad all you guys are so willing to dismiss the concerns of the opposite sex in mixed gender meets. As I asked before, and no one answered, is it fair for the fastest women to swim in outside lanes while the fastest men swim in center lanes or for women generally to get more outside lanes? Is this concern really tantamount to seeing "shadows" in lanes? Doesn't really seem all that sporting to me or to other women. But the guys are set, so I guess it's just easier to rag on women for sandbagging.
What guys are set? 99% of us swim every race in a completely random lane. The poor plight of the top ranked female in a mixed gender meet. Perhaps you can find consolation in your national titles and top 10 rankings.
Like I said earlier, perhaps you have an argument that the top ranked female should get the same opportunity as the top ranked male. But this seems beyond petty in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps the solution would be to seed the top couple of men into random lanes in the final heat if this is that big of an issue. Then every single swimmer would be in the same boat.
I'm glad all you guys are so willing to dismiss the concerns of the opposite sex in mixed gender meets. As I asked before, and no one answered, is it fair for the fastest women to swim in outside lanes while the fastest men swim in center lanes or for women generally to get more outside lanes? Is this concern really tantamount to seeing "shadows" in lanes? Doesn't really seem all that sporting to me or to other women. But the guys are set, so I guess it's just easier to rag on women for sandbagging.
What guys are set? 99% of us swim every race in a completely random lane. The poor plight of the top ranked female in a mixed gender meet. Perhaps you can find consolation in your national titles and top 10 rankings.
Like I said earlier, perhaps you have an argument that the top ranked female should get the same opportunity as the top ranked male. But this seems beyond petty in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps the solution would be to seed the top couple of men into random lanes in the final heat if this is that big of an issue. Then every single swimmer would be in the same boat.
