Patrick Chai is the Meet Director for the 2013 East Coast Collegiate Swim & Dive Club National Championship meet. He will be running the meet at Georgia Tech, the 10th time the school has hosted the event, and he put together this fantastic preview below. To follow the meet online, check out the official ECC Nationals Twitter page, their Facebook page, or the official meet website.
Men’s Psych Sheets.
Women’s Psych Sheets.
April 16, ATLANTA – Two weeks after playing host to the NCAA Final Four tournament, Atlanta welcomes sixty one collegiate club teams to the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center for the 2013 East Coast Collegiate Swim & Dive Club National Championships. Beginning on Friday, April 19th, the two-and-a-half day event is the largest collegiate swim meet in the country, and features some of the fastest competitive college swimmers outside the NCAA.
This is the 10th consecutive year that Georgia Tech Swim Club has hosted the championship meet at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, home of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, 2006 NCAA Men’s Championships, and the 2005, 2008, and 2011 ACC Championships.
University of Colorado – Boulder, the two time defending National Team Champion, will return to chase a third consecutive Overall and Women’s Team Championship. Scott Runyan, head coach for the Buffalos, said “Our team has a lot of depth this year. We have a young team that is full of talent and potential, and with the guidance and achievements of our upperclassman, our team is set to do very well.” University of Florida, who captured the Men’s team champion trophy in 2012, will try to build upon that success and dethrone the Buffalos. University of Missouri, which finished third the past two years, will be seeking its first team championship trophy since 2010.
Here are three notes for the weekend:
1. University of Florida Men’s Relay
All five of Florida men’s relay team has entry times that are slightly faster than the current meet record. It’s clear the Gators are coming to Atlanta to set some new standards for collegiate club swimming. The pressure is on now to see if they can deliver.
2. Sarah Bateman – Florida
The 2012 London Olympic veteran is swimming for the University of Florida club team in five individual events (50 Fly, 50 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, and 100 IM) and is the top seed for all five events. Can she take home five gold medals?
3. Florida vs Colorado
There is no doubt that these two clubs are the power houses of collegiate club swimming. Combined, swimmers from these two clubs claim top seeds in 33 of the 44 swimming events. Will any other club have enough depth to score enough points to claim an upset over the two favorites?
Scoring preview:
Colorado should jump out to a large lead during the first evening of competition as they are slated to dominate the distance stroke events. The key for Florida will be to win the relay events to limit the gap.
During day 2, the jostling for position will be fierce. Both Florida and Colorado have tremendous depth in all the events, so it will be very difficult for either team to pull away from the other. Missouri and Penn State can climb the rankings with several swimmers seeded in the top ten in multiple events.
The overall team ranking last year came down to the final two events, the 1 meter spring board and the 200 free relay. If the team score is tight after Day 2, it may very well come down to the wire again.
Live Results:
Swimming Live Results: http://www.ramblinwreck.com/livestats/c-swim/
Diving Live Results: https://secure.meetcontrol.com/divemeets/system/index.php#
Session Information:
Friday Evening Timed Final: 6:30PM
Saturday Prelim: 10:00AM
Saturday Final: 6:30PM
Sunday Prelim: 9:00Am
Sunday Final: 2 Hours after the conclusion of Prelim Session
For additional information, psych sheets, and full results, please visit http://www.gtswimclub.com/ecc.php
East Coast Championship History
http://www.gtswimclub.com/ecc-history.php
The swim meet was founded in 2004 and hosted six teams and seventy-three swimmers in its inaugural season. Over the past nine years, the meet has grown into the biggest and fastest collegiate swim meet in the US outside the NCAA. With the elimination of many varsity swimming programs across the country, the collegiate club scene has seen a spike in participation over the past few years. This swim meet has served as the de facto National Championships for these collegiate club teams over the past three years, and will continue to expand its reach to include many more clubs that are seeking to compete at the highest level outside the NCAA.
Looking forward to the meet and SwimSwam coverage.Such a nice facility at Georgia Tech.Can’t wait to see Sarah Bateman in 100 IM.She did a1.00 as 12 year old and That may be last time she swam it.
It should be noted that the University of Florida did not bring divers to the national championship in 2012. This year a healthy diving team is a par of the Florida contingent.
Florida entered 1/100th faster than each relay record. Strange.
Great appreciation for swimswam taking the time to provide information on this meet.
How is this defined? I can understand a school like Colorado having a team, since they don’t have an official scholarship squad, but UF? Mizzou? Penn St? Are these swimmers who just aren’t on scholarship, and could conceivably be the #19 swimmer on the squad?
It is defined separately depending on the University. Many larger schools have club programs for students who can’t perform on the varsity level of their University while some swim on the club level in addition to their varsity program once their varsity season is over.
In order to swim at the ECC meet, you just need to be a dues paying member to your club program.
Phil to give you an idea, at Penn State, the team has never had current members of the varsity team swim with the club team. The team is made up of “ordinary” students(almost exclusively undergraduates) who don’t want to give up on swimming following high school. Skill level runs from former varsity swimmers who left the team to individuals who have never swam before. The team coaches themselves, have to pay for pool time/travel/equipment on their own, and run all logistics with minimal assistance from the university club sports program. The vast majority of swimmers who will be at ECCs are not Olympic qualifiers or former varsity swimmers.
Great synopsis STKCoach. Here’s the official rule:
“An athlete is eligible to participate if they are a member of the club they are representing. A club must represent or be affiliated with a University or College. It is up to each club to define the rules of membership and ensure each participating athlete is a member of the club.”
In other words…it’s up to each team to decide who can be a member. Some teams even have professors on them, which I think is pretty cool.