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.:)
NW LCM Zones last summer was separate for most events.
Well, I didn't go to that one because I was working... :)
OK, so there's one meet out of the many many to pick from.
Is this the new tech suit thread? I totally missed out on that endlessly repetitive argument based on meaningless drivel the last eight times around but I am on board for this one.
For those of you who actually compete enough to have reasonable approximations of what times you will go, good for you! Remind me to pat you on the head the next time I see you.
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. We don't have a SWIMS database to verify times against, nor do some (most?) of us compete enough that a SWIMS database/estimations would be all that meaningful.
At a championship meet where sandbagging could affect the timeline for the distance events and it becomes a logistical problem for finishing the meet in a timely fashion, the number of entrants could be capped or a qualification time could be required, either would allow for an estimated timeline. Shockingly, one or both of these solutions is already used by most meets with time constraints.
For the events that are below a 400, do a timeline analysis of a random seed compared to circle seeding, throw in the actual seeding and timeline for good measure. I would love to see it published how many minutes could be saved.
For those of you who want more competitive competition, look no further! http://www.usaswimming.org/
A funny thing happens to me when I go to mid-season meets and race agains the kids. I don't know if this is a rule or common practice, but the kids always seem to be entered in their absolute best times from SWIMS regardless of what meet they're swimming in. Early season and mid-season, these guys are all over the map in their performance relative to their entry times.
Depends on the meet, but some of our local meets just require a time in SWIMS, others require the fastest time in SWIMS. Sounds like yours consistently require fastest times from SWIMS.
The distance events would have more spread than the sprints, so it would probably be more noticeable to you. But outside of nationals, is there a USMS meet where you feel like you see more competition than a local USA-S meet?
Your analysis suggests that unintentional sandbagging is a greater hazard than intentional sandbagging.
That wasn't my intent. My intent was to throw out some inflammatory remarks that contributed nothing to the argument about Sandbagging: Satanic Practice or Divine Right?
I do love Chris' line that sandbagging kills kittens.
I have a silly question - if you are sandbagging to get into an earlier heat so you can leave town earlier, why don't you just enter a different event? I know, you may be trying for "high point" or distance is really your best event - but if your itinerary requires your departure from the pool at a rigid time, wouldn't it just be safer to not enter that particular event? You sound like a pretty quick fella - you'd probably place quite high in whatever event you choose to swim!
I think it's one of those things where on a micro level it's obviously not going to affect the timeline by much. Kurt Dickson sandbagging one event may not affect the timeline at all, but when people start sandbagging as a matter of course it can cause the meet to run significantly longer, and in my opinion this is the only reason why sandbagging is "bad." I couldn't care less where anyone seeds themselves otherwise, but--especially at long course Nationals where days can be long--I think sandbagging should definitely be discouraged.
I didn't expect you to.
'cuz you're so smart I suppose. Coach says I'm pretty smart though. Maybe while you are patting my head, you could enlighten me.
I do like Michael's sandbagging technique.
I'll put my two cents in, which probably won't be popular. If you are unable to put an accurate time, for whatever reason, put NT. Everyone knows the NT heat(s) are the wild west.
The meet is the meet, not a particular swimmer's meet. Despite always trying to swim my own race, it is highly annoying to have someone beside me blow it out simply because they put a sandbag time. If they just swim the race of their life, good for them.
I also think you should not be allowed to do a partial swim for a time if the actual event is that same day. But, that is a longstanding swimming norm so I don't get too worked up about it either way.
I'm also Lanes 1 and 8 phobic and would consider all manners of sandbagging if I knew for sure a sandbag time would keep me from those lanes.
