Savannah Times, Volume 1

July 27 - Welcome to the Savannah Times, the e-newsletter for the 2004 Long Course National Championship participants. We look forward to your arrival in Savannah and hope your preparations are going well.

This is the first of a handful of notices that will come your way over the next two weeks. While we do appreciate communication from you, please keep in mind that we are VERY busy preparing for the meet and may not be able to answer all inquiries.

SIXTH EVENT
Due to the anticipated length of the meet, all swimmers who entered six events for this meet will have their designated sixth event dropped from the meet program.

PSYCH SHEET
The psych sheet, meet roster and other meet information may be viewed at this site.

MEET NUMBERS
The number of entrants currently stands at 1,083 swimmers. In order to expedite the meet, we will be using dive-over starts in events where applicable.

CHECK-IN
All swimmers must check in for EVERY event they wish to swim. Check-in may be done in person at the pool or via the on line check-in system. For more details on check-in, along with check-in deadlines, go to http://www.usms.org/comp/lcnats04/heats/checkin.php. Due to the deck-seeding procedure, heat sheets will be posted on Thursday and distributed daily Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

ESTIMATED TIMELINE
The projected timeline for the meet shows events concluding at the following times. It is emphasized that these times are only an estimate and may vary based on several factors and conditions:

Thursday conclusion - 8:40 p.m.
Friday conclusion - 7:35 p.m.
Saturday conclusion - 7:45 p.m.
Sunday conclusion - 3:30 p.m.

RIVERBOAT SOCIAL
Our Saturday evening social looks to be great fun as roughly 320 swimmers and guests are planning to attend. We will have the run of the Georgia Queen, a triple-decker riverboat that will have food and entertainment on each level!

Swimmers should be aware that events at the pool on Saturday may conflict with the social plans. Due to the high turnout and expected conclusion time on Saturday, the start of the social is being moved from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The final events on Saturday, the Medley Relays, are expected to start at 6:35 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. for women and men, respectively. No refunds are being granted for social tickets. A few additional social tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at registration.

VOLUNTEERS WELCOME
Several swimmers have written to express their interest in volunteering as a timer or in some other capacity, along with volunteering a spouse or family member in attendance. We appreciate the offer and will do all we can to accommodate those who wish to assist in the meet. We will have a morning, afternoon and evening shift on all days, except Sunday, for which there will be no evening shift.

If you or yours wishes to sign up to help, please contact our volunteer coordinator Amy Lee Copeland at Amy.Lee.Copeland@usdoj.gov. Any certified officials who are interested in deck work may contact Shari Miltiades at sanmil@csam.net. Both Amy Lee and Shari are out of town this week and will respond to you next week.

Keep up the swim!

Scott Rabalais
Meet Director