Connecticut Swimming
Program Development Meeting

Call to order 

Approval of Agenda 

Committee Reports

New Business

Annual Agenda Items

PROPOSAL from combined SR and Age Group Committee Meeting

DRAFT

CT Swimming Inc.

Joint Committee Meeting

Age Group and Senior Committees

To Program Development, Age Group Committee, and their members:

As you may recall, this past summer I distributed a report summarizing participation in "distance" events [that is to say the events with cut off times] at Regional Championships and suggested that we revise the time standards to encourage a modest increase in the entries in under-subscribed events – generally the off-stroke events as well as the longer IM and Freestyle events in each age group.

Before proposing new times I asked Nan Cooper and Dale Maine to help me identify the fastest 150 swimmers (and their best times) in each short course event in the 10 & under, 11/12, and 13/14 age groups as of the entry deadline for Regional Championships last spring. Organizing and analyzing the 15/18 proved a greater challenge than I could manage this year. This document summarizes what I learned. Following that analysis, I’ve reproduced the "entry numbers" spread sheet from last year’s Regional Champs, and, below that, my recommendations for SCY time standards for next March.

For each Regional event with a cut off time, I list the number of swimmers whose times were faster than this year’s Age Group Champ COT. In another column, I describe the N^th "Non Age Group Time" from the list. If 30 or fewer swimmers beat the AG cut, the time in the second column usually represents the 120^th non-AG time. If more than 30 swimmers beat the AG cut, the time is usually that of the 150^th fastest swimmer. I’ve indicated what number "Non Age Group Time" that represents. If fewer than 150 swimmers had competed in an event at the time of Regional deadline, I’ve indicated how many swimmers had done so.

I used 120^th time because it would produce 5 heats at each of 4 sites. For 12 & under 500 Frees and the 13/14 1650s, I sought the 24^th non-AG time (1 heat per Regional site). For 11/12 200 off strokes and the 13/14 500s and 400s, I sought the 96^th non-AG time (3 heats per site). I believe the statistical base for the 12 & under 1650 and 400 IMs is too small to trust as a reliable indicator of what would happen if participation grows significantly. Nonetheless, given the very small turnout in the events, you will see I suggest we relax the time standards a modest amount.

In reviewing the data, I found some cases in which the final few swimmers (say numbers 147 to 150) were much slower than the swimmers before them. This happened most often in events with fewer swims. In such cases, I suggest using a different base time (generally the slowest of the slowest "cluster") for thinking about time standards.

After looking at last year’s cuts AND the number of swimmers in Regional events, it is clear that many swimmers have top 150 times in more than 6 events (their limit at Regionals) and that a good number of our "non-AG times" are made by swimmers who have qualified for other events at Age Groups and choose not to swim Regional Championships. Therefore, I don’t think that the 150^th fastest time at last year’s entry deadline would reliably produce a field of 120 swimmers for the 4 Regional sites. You’ll note, for instance, that in some cases last year’s cut is virtually as slow as the 120^th "non-AG cut" but the total entry for Regional Champs was under 100 swimmers. For this reason, when last year entry numbers are low, I’ve recommended loosening the cut even if it is easier than the "base" time I list here. At the same time, I prefer to be conservative in relaxing standards and so, for most under-subscribed events, I have suggested a new cut somewhere between last year’s time and the "base" time from my study. I believe we could loosen the cuts even more, but I would prefer guard the meet time lines. If experience proves we could have relaxed the cuts more, we will do so next year.

If the SCY times are approved we will need to calculate (by multiplication) the appropriate SCM & LCM times.

George Miles

100 Free 28 cuts made before Regionals 120^th non AG time = 1:22.49

200 Free 30 cuts made before Regionals 120^th non AG time = 3:10.99

500 Free 18 cuts made before Regionals 24^th non AG time = 7:41.69