How to read Meet Info Sheets

Sheets that hosting clubs put out can often be confusing. Please ask your coach for clarity. Here is some information that can help make these less overwhelming.

Meet Information

Coach Luke curates a running list of all of the Meet Info files he receives from hosting clubs when they announce an upcoming meet. Find the link to his folder under Meet Info in the site navigation bar above. These documents include much of the information you will need to know about that specific meet: the location, your athlete's eligibility to compete, warmup start times (when your swimmer must be poolside in suit, cap, and goggles), meet start times (when you may want to return to watch the meet), scoring, order of events, etc. Read this information carefully to be sure you are familiar with all requirements. Each meet may have different rules. Ask questions of your coach as they arrive.

Eligibility

Invitational meets, or meets with qualifying times (QTs), a swimmer’s eligibility will be determined by time standards based on a swimmer’s age. Essentially, they must have competed in a meet and gotten a timeat or faster than the QT. Often the terms B, BB, A, or AA times are expected to be understood. To that end, again, Coach Luke has a collection of the important time standards documents under Meet Info above. See USAS Motivational for the columns that triangulate your swimmers age with the event and the time standard.

Age Groups

The age group divisions at meets are usually structured as:

8 and under:these are all 25 yard events; if a swimmer in this age group wants to swim in a 50 yard event (and the coach agrees that it is appropriate), the swimmer must compete in the 10 and under category.

10 and under: these events are 50 yard, 100 yard and occasionally 200 yard individual events.

11-12, 13-14, and 15 and over:remaining age group divisions.

Swimmers age

When your athlete's birthday is near a meet, their time standards may be for a different age they currently are. The meet information may specify a “swimmers age as of ____" date. Your swimmer's age on that date will be used to determine which age group they are in and what their time standards will be.

Sessions

You will notice that many meets will run two sessions on any given day, a morning and an afternoon, so check your event times carefully. Some swim meets are designated only for ages 10 and under, others specifically for 11 and over, some are open to all ages with certain time standards. The “eligibility” section in the meet information will also advise you as to the maximum number of events each swimmer may enter. You’ll also be reminded that your child cannot enter an event in which s/he has an official time that exceeds the time standards for the meet.

Entry Process

You will need to log on to the Lobo website in order to register your swimmer for a meet. For instructions, see Swim Meet FAQs under the above navigation bar's Meet Info dropdown.

EHL

This stands for Event Heat Lane, which is information you will need to watch your athlete swim. Younger swimmers will need this information written in Sharpie on their arm so they may ask an adult where they are supposed to be in case they are not being lead directly by their coach. You too will want to make note of this information so you can watch their race. Find the Event and Heat on the scoreboard so you know when their event is approaching.

Scoring/Awards

Each meet will explaing the awards in the meet information documents.