USA Swimming has added an Indianapolis stop to its Arena Pro Swim Series tour for 2016, but that stop might turn out to conflict with the established Santa Clara meet.
The latest version of USA Swimming’s National Team Quadrennial Plan (the schedule of major meets for U.S. National Teamers) shows a few major changes to next year’s Arena Pro Swim Series:
- No Charlotte stop in May (though a May meet is still listed as “To Be Decided”)
- An added Indianapolis stop on June 2-5
- The established Santa Clara stop moved up to June 2-5
The Quad Plan is a tentative calendar, but it appears, for now at least, that the Arena Pro Swim Series is planning for two overlapping June meets with the option of adding a 7th stop to the series in May.
All Pro Swim Series events will be long course – the Minneapolis stop is typically short course yards, but will switch to the Olympic distance in the lead-up to U.S. Olympic Trials.
Here’s what the tentative schedule looks like at the moment, per USA Swimming’s Quad Plan:
- Minneapolis, MN – November 12-14, 2015
- Austin, TX – January 15-17, 2016
- Orlando, FL – March 3-5, 2016
- Mesa, AZ – April 14-16, 2016
- TBD – May 12-15, 2016
- Indianapolis, IN – June 2-5, 2016
- Santa Clara, CA – June 2-5, 2016
One potential advantage of having two June meets would be the extra opportunities it would provide for last-minute Olympic Trial cuts. One meet on the West Coast and one meet toward further east would allow teams to save on travel expenses, heading to whichever meet was closest.
It would also allow twice as many athletes to participate without overly crowding the meet with entrants, and there will no doubt be a long line of athletes trying to earn the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Trials in what will be one of their last chances to do it.
The interesting wrinkle, though, would come in the way of Pro Swim Series points. The standings haven’t been close heading into the final meet in a couple years now, but we could potentially see athletes jockeying for points across the country from one another with the series bonus and a BMW lease on the line.
It should be noted, though, that this schedule could change drastically before the Pro Swim Series lineup becomes set in stone. An April update to the Quad Plan showed 7 stops, with the Charlotte stop included, but the July update turned the May meet to tentative.
That is so cool I wish I could go there
Does anyone know if next years Minneapolis pro swim qualifying times will be the same? I think for the past few years they’ve changed…
“The best of the best” will compete against each other 4 weeks later. No reason not to have 2 elite meets on that weekend.
With the Trials cuts where they are, there would be a LOT of kids and teams who should be at a meet like this bumped from the meet if there were only one… or have we already forgotten what happened when USA Swimming capped the grand prix meets a few years back and hardly anyone got in?
This isn’t a national championship. It’s a Pro Series stop. And it’s really the “last ditch” meet for trials qualifiers. So getting them into good facilities with good competition makes sense.
I’ve precised in my comment that’s a good thing and it makes sense.
It just gave me the opportunity to denounce again the massive destruction of the junior SCY national championships that I have still not disgested yet.
digested
I understand it’s a good thing foe East Coast swimmers to have a meet in Indianapolis in early June.
But 2 meets on the same weekend….
Why not but….
I’m just scared it becomes the new standard for big meets by the American swimming federation. 😆
They have already invented 2 junior short course national championships next December on the same weekend, one for West, the other for East. Can’t still believe that. I loved watching that meet. 😥 Great idea to not allow the best to swim against each other! 😡
Now the same for Grand Prix meets. Even if in that case that’s not a big deal.
Soon they will hold 2… Read more »
This would provide a number of swimmers from the East Coast wonderful opportunity to qualify for trials. I hope the plan sticks.
According to the men’s Ohio State schedule that was just posted, a PSS stop in Columbia, MO will be taking place at the same time the Orlando stop used to (around February 13). Braden any news on that?
Observed – USA Swimming has confirmed with us that there is not a Pro Swim Series meet scheduled for Columbia.
There are possible rumblings that the Orlando stop will move back to February (when it usually takes place) as opposed to March (where it’s currently slated on the Quad Plan), but nothing there has been made official.
Thank you, Jared
^or jared (sorry, was just reading a comment Braden responded to)
Isn’t the Charlotte pool closed for a year for renovations?
I think it is an awesome idea. One it give people the chance to see top swimmers in the fastest pool in the world. What a better place to have a last chance meet. Plus with the new renovation I can’t wait to see it!