Can we count on YOU?
Championship meet info and events have finally been posted! This is the meet where the team gets to show our strength and harvest the improvements from all the hard work we have done. We hope to see everyone eligible to swim in the big meet there to make a true team effort. Remember, while championships are required for contract groups, they are also strongly encouraged for the blue and black groups. With the championship meet in Fayetteville this time, instead of Little Rock, we hope that we will be able to fill a relay in every age group to help our team excel and make this the most fun team experience it can be.
We are allowed to enter a relay for any age group in which we have at least one swimmer qualified. This means that we can “pull in” swimmers who have not yet qualified individually to make our A relay. To enter a B relay we must have 8 swimmers qualified in that particular age group, as we cannot pull in additional swimmers to complete additional relays. Please look at your calendar so that you know if you can help if we contact you! Relays compete at the beginning of finals on Saturday evening and the beginning of Prelims on Sunday morning. This is to help make travel easier for families who might only be swimming on relays.
At the meet landing page you will find the full meet information, the order of events, and an eligibility report showing who has qualified for individual events this season.
Here are a few more important details about the meet:
-Qualifying times must have been achieved since March 1st of last year. This means that the only times from last short course season that count are from championships last year.
-Entries can be updated for any new qualifying times achieved at the Regional meet. No other late entries or updates are allowed. Deck entries are only allowed for swimmers not already in the meet who can also prove their Q times.
-The maximum entry limit is 3 individual events per day and 7 total for the meet. Relays do not count against the limit.
-All events are Prelim/Final except relays, Friday events, and the 200’s of fly, back and breast. The fastest heat of those 200’s will swim during finals while the rest of the heats will race in prelims.
-Please plan to help time. We are responsible for two timers at every session and if we rotate shifts, all timers in the session will need to attend the timers meeting before the session starts.
-If you think you have qualified for an event that is not on the eligibility sheet, please let me know. Long course Q times are different, but I am willing to check on them if needed as they should count. The time is just not the same as the BB qualifying time used in the summer.
-If you have questions about what events your swimmer should choose, feel free to email me at [email protected]. I want to encourage you to look up rankings as well as results from last year to make your best educated guess.
This is an exciting year for us with Champs so close to home. It will be hard to top our amazing third place finish from last year, but I will be heading to U of A believing that we can!
