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 don't think I've made myself clear enough here: I posit that "sandbagging" is neither immoral or unethical or unsportsmanlike (or un-anything-else-you-high-horses-think-is-good) for the very precise reason* that none of us, not a single darn one of us (no matter how "right" we think we are and how "wrong" we think others are) truly knows how their performance will pan out and therefore how close their entry time will be to their final time. I enter my meets as soon as I know I can go to the meet, often weeks in advance. Even though I try to enter likely times, life happens either before the meet or during the meet and my result differs what whatever projected reality I had used to create the entry time.
Stop getting your boxers in a wad over this issue and JUST RACE.
Fort, while I have come out in favor of mixed gender and mixed age heats, I completely understand your point about racing next to big guys with big wakes, especially at taper meets. Like Greg, I had the fortune of racing next to guys like Jeff Dash or Paul Smith ... I'm a big guy myself, but those guys put off some serious wave action. If the meet directors aren't following the rules to seed women appropriately, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Kurt, I still think you should bag on Auburn and come to Mission Viejo instead. I'm definitely not going to be in Auburn, but knowing I'd have a good race on my hands in Mission might motivate me to get there.
* see U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - No sandbagging: It's the law
I don't think I've made myself clear enough here: I posit that "sandbagging" is neither immoral or unethical or unsportsmanlike (or un-anything-else-you-high-horses-think-is-good) for the very precise reason* that none of us, not a single darn one of us (no matter how "right" we think we are and how "wrong" we think others are) truly knows how their performance will pan out and therefore how close their entry time will be to their final time. I enter my meets as soon as I know I can go to the meet, often weeks in advance. Even though I try to enter likely times, life happens either before the meet or during the meet and my result differs what whatever projected reality I had used to create the entry time.
Stop getting your boxers in a wad over this issue and JUST RACE.
Fort, while I have come out in favor of mixed gender and mixed age heats, I completely understand your point about racing next to big guys with big wakes, especially at taper meets. Like Greg, I had the fortune of racing next to guys like Jeff Dash or Paul Smith ... I'm a big guy myself, but those guys put off some serious wave action. If the meet directors aren't following the rules to seed women appropriately, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Kurt, I still think you should bag on Auburn and come to Mission Viejo instead. I'm definitely not going to be in Auburn, but knowing I'd have a good race on my hands in Mission might motivate me to get there.
* see U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums - View Single Post - No sandbagging: It's the law
