As many of you already know, I have been campaigning for the last year with Ohio High School Athletic Assoc (OHSAA) in an effort to fix the Automatic Qualifier Allotment problem. After studying the problem in detail, I sent the results to Dr Moore, commissioner in charge of Swimming rules and regulations, her boss, and all of the district commissioners. I received a complete stonewall. As you know there is no change in the way AQÕs are allotted for 2010.
The following is my latest attempt to catch OHSAAÕs attention. This was sent by email to all of the large newspapers in the state.
DID YOU KNOW - that in 2009, Boys DI 500 freestyle event, the 26th, 33rd and 34th best times in the state qualified to the Ohio High School Swimming Championships and the 22nd, 23rd and 24th best times did not?
DID YOU KNOW - that in 2006, Girls DII 200 freestyle, the 26th, 38th, 39th and 40th place times qualified to the Ohio High School Swimming Championships and the 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th best times did not?
Sounds ludicrous doesn't it?
Many people believe that the Championships in Canton pit the best 24 swimmers in each event against one another. NOT TRUE! IT HASN'T BEEN TRUE FOR MANY YEARS!
Efforts to get OHSAA to rectify this problem, which is widespread in all four divisions have been met with a complete stonewall. The selection of participants in State Championship events for other sports, like football for example, is truly a challenge. The selection of swimmers for the championships in comparison should indeed seem like child's play. Select the 24 fastest swimmers and let them compete. Why mess it up, when it is extremely simple? The problem is created by a concept called the Automatic Qualifier (AQ). Thirteen of the 24 participants are selected as AQ's. The number of AQ's varies from district to district. Many of these AQ's are not among the top 24 swimmers in the state. OHSAA however, persists in employing this convoluted method for choosing the 24 competitors in the Championships. How extensive is the problem? Last year seventy eight (78) swimmers had faster times than one or more AQ but didn't qualify to state. Twenty seven (27) top 24 swimmers didn't qualify to state because of this obtuse method of selecting participants. I hope these facts have the same effect on you as they do on me. I have been unsuccessful in getting OHSAA's attention. Can you? More details can be found in the attachment.
P.S. You can verify this problem easily by logging on to; http://swimmeet.com/meets/ohio09/ and clicking on "qualifiers". AQ's times are in bold print. As you move from stroke to stroke you will note that in many cases AQ's are stacked up at the bottom.