Minnesota Swimming Athlete Committee
April 16th, 2015
Meeting Minutes
A. Record Appearances
The meeting was called to order by Chair Patrick Hunter at 8:07 PM.
Those Present: Patrick Hunter, Jack Swanson, Megan Burrows, Aaron Olson, Lauren Harris, Ian
Cooke, Tru Walor
B. Committee Updates
 The USA Swimming Rules and Regulations will be proposing legislation at the USAS
Convention in Kansas City to ensure 20% athlete vote at the zone level.
 The National Board of Review and FINA are looking into Michael Phelps’ reinstatement.
 The Technical Planning Committee is considering feedback for how to improve
championship meets, especially for 11-12 swimmers.
 The Open Water Task Force met on March 25th and will hopefully be working on the
State Championship meet this summer.
 $200,000 from Minnesota Swimming will be used towards renovating the Rochester
pool. This is a $10 million project.
 We briefly reviewed the schedule for Saturday’s Swimposium and Sunday’s House of
Delegates.
C. Championship Meet Review
i. C Finals
C Finals is becoming the MAC. This should give it more of a “championship meet feel.” No
committee members competed at C Finals. We should explore having a podium at C Finals, as
the athletes would like this, and this would give the meet a “championship meet feel” and might
help retain athletes.
ii. Minnesota Regional Championship
At the Hutchinson MRC, heat winners received a prize – would this be possible for the other
MRCs? Also, we should announce the results of the top 8 qualifiers. We should announce the
swimmers competing in the final heat prior to their race as well. We should also have a podium
at the MRC.
Are 6 sites for the MRC necessary? It is better to have “comfortably sized” meets, so that the
facility is not to cramped. The Hutchinson MRC was too small, and lacked a championship meet
atmosphere. Additionally, an MRC at St. Kates is not appealing, as there is not cool down pool.
A motion was made by Swanson to recommend 5 MRC sites. Second Hunter. All in favor.
iii. Senior State
Committee members thought Senior State was run fairly smoothly. We discussed the number of
relays that each club should be entitled to. The prevailing opinion was that clubs should have
unlimited relays for 200 and 400 yard/meter relays, but the aggregate time must add up to 4x the
champ time. Each club would be allocated at least one relay, should they have an athlete
qualifying for the state meet.
We also discussed having an age group senior state meet vs a “true” senior state meet. In the
summer, many college athletes compete at the state meet, so the committee agreed that it is best
to have age groups 15-16 and 17 and over at the Summer State Meet. However, beyond the state
meet, age groups are irrelevant, according to Frank Busch from USA Swimming. What is most
important is that we maximize opportunities for a second swim, according to committee
members.
iv. Age Group States
Megan Burrows competed at Age Group State, but did not qualify for finals. The main complaint
was that finals sessions were too long. We discussed moving the 13-14 swimmers to age group
state, but we decided against this option, as it is best for 11-12 athletes to compete in a prelim
final meet.
v. NCSA and NASA meets
How do we recreate the atmosphere at an LSC level, particularly for the Senior State Meet? The
committee agreed that this will be very hard, as most teams do travel, which gets people excited.
Also, NCSAs and NASAs are national level meets, which excites swimmers. We agreed that
Senior State should have a more exciting announcer, and that we should continue to parade
finalists, to give the Senior State Meet more of a “championship meet feel.”
We also agreed that High School swimming detracts from the Senior State Meet. Swimmers feel
as if they are competing for something bigger at the High School State Meet. However, it is
alarming that many High School swimmers found their in-season invites to be more exciting than
Senior State. Recognizing winners would help – we could use the Minnesota Swimming Athletes
Twitter page to tweet pictures of event winners.
D. Unique Role of the Athlete Voice
Van Donkersgoed discussed the unique role that the athlete voice plays in USA Swimming and
thanked committee members for being a part of the committee. He also thanked Swanson and
Hunter for their service as the leaders of the committee.
E. Adjournment
A motion to adjourn was made by Patrick Hunter at 9:19 PM. Second Swanson. All in favor of
adjournment.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jack Swanson
Athlete Committee Vice Chair