Time standards assist swimmers with measuring their improvement. They also establish minimum entry requirements for some meets. Time standards are different for each season and for each type of pool.  “SCY” means Short Course season times attained in a 25-Yard pool. “SCM” means Short Course season times gained in a 25-Meter pool. Most PAC Short Course events are held in 25-yard pools. “LCM” means Long Course times obtained in a 50-Meter pool. To locate the time standard for a swimmer’s event, you must know what season it is, what type of pool it is (25 yards or meters, or 50  meters), and you must know the swimmer’s gender, age, and event.

 

A swimmer's time can be converted between courses using this link: Swim Time Conversion

Oregon

Northwest Region

Western Zone

National

Oregon Time Standards - Oregon Swimming Incorporated (OSI), the governing body of USA Swimming in Oregon, has set “A” and “B” time standards for each gender and age group. The B standard is the first goal most swimmers strive to attain. Achieving a B time means that the swimmer is getting strong in an event, and may want to focus on that event to get an A time.  An A time qualifies a swimmer to compete in the Oregon State Championships in that event.  C times are any times slower than B times.

Northwest Regional and Senior Sectional Time Standards - USA Swimming, Inc. has divided the United States into various swimming sections. All of the Western states except for California are in our section. Sectional Championship meets are held at the end of both Short Course and Long Course seasons for swimmers with qualifying times in their gender/age groupings. Typically there are both Age-Group Regionals and Senior Sectional meets for short course season, but only a Senior Sectional meet for long course season.

Western Zone Time Standards - USA Swimming also divides the United States into Zones (groupings of Sections) for the purpose of conducting Zone Championship meets. These meets occur only at the end of Long Course season. OSI selects a team to represent Team Oregon  at the Age Group Zones meet. To be eligible, swimmers must obtain qualifying times during the specified period and submit an application and coach recommendation to the Zones coaching staff committee. The committee then selects the team that will represent OSI at the Western Zone Age Group Championship. The Western Zone Championship is a Senior level meet. Athletes must obtain qualifying times to participate but no application is necessary to compete.

Junior/Senior National Time Standards - These times qualify the swimmer for the Junior and Senior National meets. Senior swimmers strive to achieve these qualifying times as they are the first national milestone for swimmers looking toward competing at Olympic and International events. Junior Nationals are exclusively for swimmers age 18 and under.

USA Swimming Time Standards - USA Swimming, Inc. also sets national motivational time standards by age group beginning with 10&Unders. These also begin with a “B” time designation.  The standards get progressively faster and more difficult to achieve as a swimmer moves through “A”, “AA”, “AAA” and “AAAA” times.

National Top 10 - USA Swimming recognizes the swimmers, age 10-18, who have swum the 10 fastest times in each event each season.