The Big Meets: LSC and Zone Championships
The Big Meets: LSC and Zone Championships
te at bigger meets with lots of other fast swimmers.All these bigger meets have time standards or “cuts.” That means you will have to swim a certain time in your event before you will be allowed to compete in these meets. The bigger and more important the meet, the faster you will have to swim.
One of the first big meets you might compete in is your Local Swimming Committee (LSC) age group championships. At these meets, you will still be competing against swimmers in your own age group, but they will be the best in your state or geographic area. It’s easy to get nervous, but keep in mind, if you weren’t fast enough, you wouldn’t be able to compete at this level.
Even faster than your LSC age group championships are the Zone Championships. USA Swimming divides the country into four Zones – Eastern, Western Central and Southern – and each of these Zones holds at least one Zone Championships each year, usually in the summer.
At the Zone Meet, each state or LSC fields a team of its top age group swimmers to compete against the other states or LSCs within that Zone. For example, in the Central Zone, Indiana Swimming will compete against teams from Michigan, Ohio and Illinois Swimming. Instead of competing for your club, you are representing your state or LSC and might find yourself on a relay with other top swimmers from your LSC. Zone meets are the top age group meets you can compete in around the country
