First of all, you really need to read the whole message that was sent to your entries person, as it will explain why we have to assign timer responsibilities to the teams and how we did it.  Having said that, I understand your situation, and we knew this might happen in certain cases.  The message asking for the timers lists all the teams and their timing assignments.  It also suggests that if you have a problem with a particular timing assignment, you should contact one of the other coaches and trade assignments.  You might start with the coach from the Wilton YMCA or the Tri Hampton YMCA, as they have provided the largest numbers of timers and normally have finalists each night, so one of them may be able to switch with you.

Assigning timers based on which teams would have swimmers in the finals was not considered a viable alternative because we would not know which teams had swimmers in finals until after prelims and we couldn't take a chance in trying to find timers at the end of prelims each day.  Moreover, it wouldn't be fair to people to suddenly tell them at Noon that they needed timers for the evening session, as people do make plans.  By going out to the teams with the largest numbers of entries, we had the best chance of getting timers assigned in sufficient time that those people would know their assignments and we would know who we had for the sessions.