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 just spent 4 days racing in a USAS meet where all the kids were entered in their best times for prelims and then we were all, obviously, entered in our prelims times for finals. Here's my "AHA" that I think all swimmers need to understand: heat sheets are works of fiction. 99+% of the time, all swimmers' performances will vary from their entered time. In particular, what I saw this weekend was that the delta in performances between prelims swims and finals (both faster and slower) was often more dramatic than the differences between initial heat sheets and prelims performance.
People need to get over the illusion of the heat sheet as predictive of that day's performance and just race.
My last USA-S meet was the same way. The kids (and myself) were all entered with their best times, (which happened to be from a whole year ago). Most of these kids are growing stronger and developing a lot between ages 14-18 and tend to blow their times out of the water. Even though I was seeded right next to a "similar time", I was getting beat by a significant margin most of the time, and I was equaling or slightly bettering my own times.
I think for the kids it is easier to beat their best times season to season. Masters...yeah, just get out there and race!! :banana:
My last USA-S meet was the same way. The kids (and myself) were all entered with their best times, (which happened to be from a whole year ago). Most of these kids are growing stronger and developing a lot between ages 14-18 and tend to blow their times out of the water. My experience was different. As the first LCM meet for lots of these kids, I generally found that the 15/16 year old boys were often (but not always) cranking ahead of their times, whereas the 17+ guys were often (but not always) well slower. It was a crapshoot ... almost as much as the crapshoot that we see in Masters' meets. On top of this, since this meet required qualifying times and some kids had those from yards and the yards times are seeded with the slowest meters times, you had blowouts in the early heats. I never once heard a kid (or a parent or a coach) complain about lopsided heats, people getting blown out in the early heats or timeline shenanigans. And this was with some actual, physical heat winner prizes on the line (e.g., cacti!).
This is a great quote. Sandbagging is a self-centered act. I don't think anyone can deny that.
Isn't this a self-centered sport? Afterall, when we are swimming, aren't we swimming for ourselves?
...I think it's debatable whether every consequence is really consequential.
The question is, do you consider unsportsmanlike conduct inconsequential? I do not.
Sure, and feel free to do whatever you want when you're out training by yourself, but when you're a member of a team or attending a meet I think you've got an obligation to consider the consequences of the things you do and how they may affect everyone else.
I guess each time we swim a lot faster or slower than our entry time, we should apologize to the people around us for potientially f-ing up their race
You are simply restating the obvious. But platitudes like "swim your own race" or "it's only Masters" do not alter the fact that sandbagging (ie intentionally entering a slow seed time) is unsportsmanlike. If sportsmanship does not matter to you, then feel free to ignore this thread.
Which is more unsportsmanlike: a guy who is on the slow side knowing the 3 free event rule avoids the obvious "temptation" of entering say 50s or 100s and enters and completes a mile in close to an hour, a 400 IM in 20 plus minutes, and some other event in an inordinate amount of time or say some hypothetical guy who enters a bogus time for a 400 so he can catch the only nonstop out of Birmingham to surprise his mommy for her 85th birthday?
C'mon man have a heart...it's nana we're talking about here.
I guess each time we swim a lot faster or slower than our entry time, we should apologize to the people around us for potientially f-ing up their race.
Now that you've mastered hyperbole, perhaps it's time to move on to other rhetorical devices.
Not everyone will have your reaction, Gull.
Which is what, exactly? Sandbagging doesn't cause me angst. I just happen to believe that it is unsportsmanlike.
...Kurt's attempted sandbag -- while unsportsmanlike in theory -- may have had no impact whatsoever.
Explain to me why there must be a tangible "impact."
I'm no expert, but the commentator suggests there's an advantage to swimming in an outside lane. Shameless plug... I know.
www.floswimming.org/.../178417
