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More than 150 swimmers — and twice as many nose clips — have come to Tucson for the U.S. Synchronized Swimming National Championships, which begin today at the University of Arizona Recreation Center Pool.

If you are like us, your only knowledge of the sport comes from Martin Short and Harry Shearer's "Saturday Night Live" bit about male synchronized swimming. But that is not fair to the sport. Hilarious, yes — but unfair nonetheless.

Then again, that is what primers are for, right?

The event

• What: U.S. Synchronized Swimming National Championships

• Who's there: More than 150 swimmers, 15 years old and up, who have qualified through zoned competitions. The UA's club team, the Splashcats, is one of two from the state to compete. The other is the Arizona Aqua Stars from Mesa. The sport is a female-only Olympic sport, but there is one male participating this weekend.

• Schedule: Competition starts at 9:25 a.m. today, 10:25 a.m. Friday and 9:45 a.m. Saturday.

• Events: Competition is held in three categories — solo, duet and team.

• Tickets: $5 per day for today and Friday, $10 for the finals Saturday, or $15 for all three days.

History here

This is not the first time Tucson has hosted a major synchronized swimming event. In 2001 and 2007, it hosted the U.S. Masters Championships. The U.S. Collegiate National Championships were held here in 2003.

Candy Kaemerer, the technical co-chair for the Arizona Synchronized Swimming Association, said the group bids on such events.

"In the age group category, we have close to 200 swimmers in synchronized swimming in Phoenix and Tucson," she said. "There are eight teams, counting the Splashcats.

"We've bid on meets because it's good for our swimmers not only to see this caliber of swimmer, but also because sometimes our teams are in them.

"And it happens that the U of A rec facility is a very nice facility."

What's that?

A few odd-looking things you may see at the U.S. Synchronized Swimming National Championships:

• Nose clip — Keeps water out of a swimmer's nose; swimmers keep a backup in their suit in case the original falls out.

• Hair goo — Swimmers put unflavored Knox gelatin in their hair to keep it out of their faces. The gelatin — which hardens while drying — is made of soft horse cartilage.

• Underwater music — One speaker sits about 1 meter under water; swimmers can hear the music under the water.

• Suits — Most swimmers have a different suit for each routine; they can run above $100 apiece.

The basics

The week's events will feature three classes of competition — solo, duet and team.

There are two routines that will be scored:

• Technical routine — Swimmers choose their own music but most perform specific choreography moves in the proper order. They can add different choreography, and must be under a certain time limit.

• Free routine — There are no restrictions on music or choreography for the longer routine.

Eight finalists are selected for each solo, duet and team event and perform only the free routine in the final.

How they score

Think figure skating.

A panel of 10 judges gives out scores ranging from 1-10, in increments of one-tenth of a point. Five judges evaluate technical merit, and five look at artistic impression. The highest and lowest of the scores in each category are tossed out, and the final totals multiplied by five.

Technical merit has three aspects:

• Execution — How perfect were the swimming strokes, formations, patterns, transitions and propulsion techniques?

• Synchronization — How similar did the teammates look and move with the music?

• Difficulty — How efficiently were complex moves executed? How high were movements above the water? How much strength was required?

Artistic impression has three aspects:

• Choreography — How varied and creative were the movements?

• Music interpretation — Did the movements reflect the music playing?

• Manner of presentation: How poised, effortless and expressive was the performance?