One conference championship will now be two, as the University Athletic Association, in an ongoing battle with monstrous travel delays into Atlanta, has decided that it will host a “satellite conference championship” at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
The original meet hosts, Emory, will continue to host their meet in Atlanta for those who can get through to that airport, which is one of the busiest in the country. However, other schools will travel to Cleveland (either by flight or by drive), including Case Western Reserve, the University of Rochester, and the University of Chicago (with more schools possibly joining that group).
We will continue to update this story as we receive more information. The results from the two sites will be combined into one formal results list, with both meets being run as two day events (the Case Western meet is slated to be Saturday-Sunday now, and at last announcement on Tuesday, the Emory site will continue to be Friday-Saturday. This is a situation in flux, though, so stay tuned for more updates.
Fortunately, the Case Western Reserve Veale natatorium is certainly adequate for hosting this meet; it has an 8-lane 40-yard pool that is 7-feet deep in the competition end and has a 500-seat elevated spectator area.
There are 8 programs that sponsor swimming in the UAA.
There is also the disadvantage of the meet being condensed into 2 days. With a distance swimmer multiple events in one day stinks. Some kids had 400 im final 30 minutes after swimming the mile.
wow! very interesting to see how this will play out.
How will they handle A/B/C Finals? I was thinking it would look silly if they combined in the afternoon and had empty lanes to represent the Atlanta swimmers. But now they are a day apart. Does this mean 48 swimmers are swimming at night? with each A final competing for 1st through 16th? VERY INTERESTING decisions will need to be made.
We can only hope all of the divers made it to Atlanta. Subjective scoring? Good grief.
Byoung001 – good point on divers. Didn’t even think of that. They must have though, and must have decided that the negatives of having to put more delays in would be worse than the negatives of having subjective diving.
Divers all made it and the diving portion will proceed as normal with a condensed format.
The meets will proceed as 2 separate meets with prelims determining finals heats as in a normal meet. Full A/B/C heats will swim for finals at both meets. Once both meets are complete they will go through all prelims swims and create “finals” heats based on prelims times. The times from finals at the individual will then be used to determine placing within virtual finals heats. Swimmers will not be able to move between heats based on finals swims just like in a normal championship meet.
Divers all made it and the diving portion will proceed as normal with a condensed format.
The meets will proceed as 2 separate meets with prelims determining finals heats as in a normal meet. Full A/B/C heats will swim for finals at both meets. Once both meets are complete they will go through all prelims swims and create “finals” heats based on prelims times. The times from finals at the individual will then be used to determine placing within virtual finals heats. Swimmers will not be able to move between heats based on finals swims just like in a normal championship meet.
I’m assuming that swimmers for finals will be seeded before either finals session starts. That means, for example, there could be 2 people in an A-final in Ohio and 6 people in that A-final in Georgia. Then the results could be combined. I see it more as an administrative and hy-tek computing hassle.
G – the trick I think that BYoung is getting at is that finals for day 1 will be done in Atlanta, as of last update, before prelims begin for day 1 in Ohio.
So, they could do it metaphorically for scoring purposes, but the way it’s swum will still be awkward and a topic for discussion. They could designate the 8 fastest swimmers from combined prelims were in the A-Final, regardless of where they actually swam in the evening.
Divers all made it and the diving portion will proceed as normal with a condensed format.
The meets will proceed as 2 separate meets with prelims determining finals heats as in a normal meet. Full A/B/C heats will swim for finals at both meets. Once both meets are complete they will go through all prelims swims and create “finals” heats based on prelims times. The times from finals at the individual will then be used to determine placing within virtual finals heats. Swimmers will not be able to move between heats based on finals swims just like in a normal championship meet.
Good on Case. Way to step up. They’ve always been a class program. And good on the UAA for trying to make the best out of a bad situation.
Obviously making the best of a bad situation, but with a split meet being staggered by days it could provide a competitive advantage to the teams a day behind. In a close team race, you can see what scratches to make, relay lineups to use, and probably some things I’m not even considering. What a wild scene.