Swim Meet 101
Time Trials
Time trials is a meet at which swimmers swim every stroke (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and/or butterfly) that they are able to swim. This meet is for Marlins only. This will give the coaches a baseline time for your swimmer in each stroke. As the season progresses, your child will probably "drop time" -- i.e., swim faster in a subsequent race.
The coaches also use the times from time trials, as well as times from all subsequent meets, to determine which swimmers will swim in the competitive "A" meets on Saturday mornings.
A Meets vs B Meets
We participate in three basic types of meets: (1) Wednesday evening "B" dual meets that are open to all swimmers, regardless of their times; (ii) Saturday morning "A" dual meets that are limited to qualified swimmers, and (iii) "Invitational" meets for the top swimmers in our Division and MCSL. Each meet is further described below.
Wednesday B Meets: 1 or 2 Wednesday evenings, all swimmers may swim 3 stroke events (e.g., freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) + an individual medley (IM) in a dual meet we have with another MCSL team in an effort to improve times and qualify to swim in the A meets held on Saturday mornings. HOWEVER, if your child was one of the top 2 swimmers in an event at the A meet, they may not swim that same event at the immediately following B meet. This will allow all the swimmers an opportunity to swim.
Saturday A Meets: Each Saturday morning for 5 weeks, our team competes against another MCSL Division team. Each week, the swimmers with the 3 fastest times for the season in each non-freestyle event (and the fastest 6 swimmers in freestyle events) qualify to swim in that week's Saturday meet. Each swimmer can only swim a maximum of 3 individual events + an IM + 1 relay at a Saturday meet.
Relay Carnival: Each MCSL Division has one relay carnival per swim season. The relay carnival is comprised of 22 relay events and all teams in the division compete. There are 2 points separating teams in the meet standing. The relay carnival points also contribute to the calculation of the division standing, and determines the participants in the MCSL Relay All-Stars Meet for 18 of the 22 relays. The other 4 are determined by the fastest time in both Relay Carnival and the Divisional. This exciting meet requires at least 4 swimmers per age/gender group.
Divisional Championship: There is one divisional meet per swim season which all teams of the division compete against each other. A divisional meet is comprised of two heats per event following the same order of events used for the A-Meets. Each team provides two swimmers per event and the two swimmers with the fastest official times obtained during the current season in each event will represent the team in the meet. The swimmers follows the A-Meet restriction of swimming 3 out of 4 single strokes and 2 of 3 relay/IM. In individual events, medals are awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places and ribbons will be awarded for 4th-6th places. In relay events, medals will be awarded for 1st place and ribbons for 2nd and 3rd places.
Invitational Meets: At the end of the season, (i) the top 2 swimmers in each event on each of the 6 teams in our Division compete with each other at the “Divisionals” swim meet, and (ii) the fastest swimmers in MCSL compete with each other at the “Coaches Long Course” and “All-Stars” swim meets.
**There tends to be fluctuation between swimmers who participate in A and B meets during the season as children improve their skills, so swimmers and parents should check the meet entries EACH WEEK to see if their child is listed for the A meet, as changes on a weekly basis are expected. Although some swim on Saturdays, some on Wednesdays, and some on both days, we are one team focused on everyone having fun!
