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.:)
I am not sure how comparable USA-S (especially age group) meets are to USMS meets. In USA-S meets it is not uncommon at all to see swimmers blow their times out of the water; then (if I know the kid and congratulate him/her) I find out that the time is over one year old. At 13 or 14 that makes a pretty huge difference! Heck, I see age-groupers doing best times in practice sometimes.
Older kids are different, but that is also a crapshoot based on hormonal levels, who's dating whom, the phase of the moon, and God knows what else. I have seen such huge differences in prelim & final swims that I just marvel how age-group coaches have any hair left at all.I agree, but, relative to the heat sheet, whether it's Masters or USAS, there's just different s**t that impacts why the entry time differs from the result. I can tell you I was very bummed that the kid seeded next to me (faster) in the 800 went way SLOWER than his entry time as I was looking to go what his entry time was and was hoping he'd pace me. After the 100, though, when I realized he was going to be off, I got over it and did what we all need to do: I swam the best I could and tried to race whoever else I could find in the pool. For me, what this meant was trying to see how far I could extend my lead over said kid in lane 3 ... even though he was off, I could still 'use' his performance to help me. There are loads of ways to race ... head-to-head isn't the only method.
I am not sure how comparable USA-S (especially age group) meets are to USMS meets. In USA-S meets it is not uncommon at all to see swimmers blow their times out of the water; then (if I know the kid and congratulate him/her) I find out that the time is over one year old. At 13 or 14 that makes a pretty huge difference! Heck, I see age-groupers doing best times in practice sometimes.
Older kids are different, but that is also a crapshoot based on hormonal levels, who's dating whom, the phase of the moon, and God knows what else. I have seen such huge differences in prelim & final swims that I just marvel how age-group coaches have any hair left at all.I agree, but, relative to the heat sheet, whether it's Masters or USAS, there's just different s**t that impacts why the entry time differs from the result. I can tell you I was very bummed that the kid seeded next to me (faster) in the 800 went way SLOWER than his entry time as I was looking to go what his entry time was and was hoping he'd pace me. After the 100, though, when I realized he was going to be off, I got over it and did what we all need to do: I swam the best I could and tried to race whoever else I could find in the pool. For me, what this meant was trying to see how far I could extend my lead over said kid in lane 3 ... even though he was off, I could still 'use' his performance to help me. There are loads of ways to race ... head-to-head isn't the only method.
