New England Masters 2002 Short Course Yards Championship April 5-7, 2002 Blodgett Pool, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Pool
Harvard University Blodgett Pool, site of several men's and women's Eastern and Ivy League championship meets and the 57th NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship. 50 meter by 25 yard pool. One eight lane competition course, and six lane warm-up/warm-down. Electronic timing and scoreboard. Deck space for 500 swimmers, coaches, officials, and spectator seating for 1200.

Directions
From the North take 1-93 into Boston and take MA Pike (I-90) west about five miles to Allston/Cambridge Exit (Westbound Exit 20, Eastbound Exit 18) bear right at fork after the tool booth towards Cambridge. At second light (Doubletree Suites will be on your right) proceed to a left turn on to Storrow Drive Westbound for about 1 mile. Exit at Harvard Square/N. Harvard Street. At top of exit, turn left on N. Harvard Street. Approx ¼ mile on your right will be Blodgett Pool. Turn left into the Harvard Business School Lot entrance which is the second gate on the left just past the pool. From the South/West. Take MA Pike (I-90) to Allston/Cambridge Exit (Westbound Exit 20, Eastbound Exit 18 and follow directions for North.

Eligibility
2002 registered United States Masters Swimming (USMS) swimmers 19 years or older as of April 7th, 2002. Also, 2002 registered masters swimmers from other countries.

Rules
2002 USMS rules apply. We will use dive-over starting. If you want more time to exit the pool please notify the meet referee in advance.

Entries
Maximum of four individual events, plus two relays per day. Swimmers may not swim both 1650 and 1000. Entries must be received by March 22nd or postmarked by March 18th. You must include a seed time for each entered event. Entry times of 'NT" will not be accepted. Mail your entry form, copy of your 2002 USMS card, and check payable to NEMSC to:

Bob Seltzer c/o Meta Software Corporation 150 Cambridge Park, Cambridge, MA 02140 617 576-1203 phone e-mail: seltzer@metasoft.com

Heat Seeding
All events are timed finals. Heats seeded by sex from slowest to fastest., except for the 1000 and 1650 where men and women will be seeded together.

Awards
Certificate for mounting an adhesive label record of your performance in each individual event. Medals for 1st through 3rd places by age group and men and women high point winner. A banner will be awarded to the NEM workout group with the highest point total, additionally banners will be awarded to NEM workout groups placing 2nd through 10th.

All Events Require Positive Check-In
All events will be deck seeded from entry form times. Swimmers must confirm their entries for Friday events by 7:45 a.m. for the 1,000 and 1650 and by 4:30 p.m. for the 800 free relay and 400 IM. All entries for the Men's 500 free must be confirmed by 7:45 a.m. on Saturday and for the Women's 500 free by 7:45 a.m. on Sunday. For all other events, swimmers who do not check in by 9:30 a.m. will be scratched from all of their events for that day. If you arrive late, check-in immediately and you will be re-entered in events that have not yet been posted. We plan to seed events about one hour before they start.

Warm-Up/Warm-Down
The entire pool will be available for warm-up from 7:30 to 8:30 am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Friday, there will be a 45 minute warm-up and warm down immediately following the conclusion of the 1,000 freestyle. On Saturday and Sunday there will be a 45 minute warm-up in the competition pool immediately following the conclusion of the morning's 500 free .The 6 lane warm-up/warm-down area and the diving well will be available during the entire session and all lanes will be available for warm-down 30 minutes after last heat of a session.

Hotels
The Double Tree Suites is 1.5 miles from the pool. They have a shuttle to Harvard Square. To get the special group rate of $129 for up to three people refer to New England Masters (617-783-0090). The Suisse Chalet is 4 miles from the pool and a 10 minute walk to the T that runs to Harvard Square. Refer to group rate under "New England Masters" from $86.39 for 1 person to $104.39 for 4 people, plus 12.5% tax (617-661-7800) All hotels require that rooms be booked by March 8th to get the preferred rate.

Relays
Relay swimmers must be entered in at least one individual event. Relays will be deck entered at the meet. Relay entry forms will be provided and must be submitted 45 minutes before the relay event. Swimmers will be allowed one relay for each relay event -- no single sex and mixed sex for same event. USMS rule that all swimmers must be affiliated with same USMS team will be enforced.

Scoring
The meet will be scored as a competition between NEM workout groups. Please fill in the "Workout Group" section on the entry form. All swimmers from a "Workout Group" will be scored together. The first ten places in each individual age group event will score in the following sequence: 11, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The top ten relays in each age group event will score double points.

Meet Web Site
We will run a special meet website at: http://www.swimindex.com/meets/2002/nem-scy/ that will feature full information, entry lists, psyche sheets, preliminary heat sheets, timelines, results, live updates during the meet via webcam and scoreboard.

For More Information
Contact: Call Bob Seltzer at 617-576-1203, fax 617-661-2008, or email at: seltzer@metasoft.com. To add your name to the meet e-mail distribution list go to the meet website at: http://www.swimindex.com/meets/2002/nem-scy/