Swimming Glossary

Just some useful terms that all swimming families should know.

PVS (Potomac Valley Swimming): this is our LSC

Time Standard/Qualifying Time, QTime: Time a swimmer must achieve in order to compete in that event.
•    NST (No Slower Than): A swimmer MUST meet or exceed the time standard in order to compete
•    NFT (No Faster Than): A swimmer CANNOT meet or exceed the time standard in order to compete.

Conforming Time:  Qtime standard that corresponds to the meet competition course

Course: designated distance where competition is conducted
•    SCY: Short Course Yards (25YD), this is the distance most often used by winter club, high school, and NCAA competition. Mainly swam in USA.
•    LCM: Long Course Meters (50M), this is the standard distance used for international competitions and the Olympics
•    SCM: Short Course Meters (25M), this is the distance used for MCSL season
**note about times, SCY will appear the fastest followed by SCM and the slowest times will be LCM.

Deck Entry: Enrolling a swimmers in an event the day of the meet

Heats: A division of an event
•    Preliminaries or Trials: Meet session(s) where heats are held
•    Finals: Concluding session(s) of a meet where the top swimmers return to race again
•    Consolation final (B or C Final):  Fastest swimmers who did not achieve top 8
•    Final (A final): Top 8 swimmers of a particular event)

Scratch: Withdraw an entry from competition. **For Championship meets with Trials/Finals swimmers have 30min from the time their event is announced to declare their intentions. Swimmers who fail to scratch will be seeded into finals session. Failure to appear will result in expulsion from the remainder of the meet.

LSC (Local Swimming Committee): A local governing body for USA-S

DQ: Disqualification, times achieved will not be recorded

NT: No Time

NS: No Swim

Meet Types

  • Mini Meet: Typically these meets will offer events for 10 & Under swimmers only. NT’s will be accepted
  • Open Meet: These meets are for all swimmers 9 and older and require no entry times to enter. NT’s will be accepted 
  • Championship Meet: These meets will require either official time in cases where there is no qualifying time standard or a time that meets or exceeds the entry time standard.

Time Standard/Qualifying Time, QTime: Time a swimmer must achieve in order to compete in that event.

  • NST (No Slower Than): A swimmer MUST meet or exceed the time standard in order to compete
  • NFT (No Faster Than): A swimmer CANNOT meet or exceed the time standard in order to compete.
  • Conforming Time: Times from other courses that meet the standard of the meet competition course.

Course: designated distance where competition is conducted

  • SCY: Short Course Yards (25YD), this is the distance most often used by winter club, high school, and NCAA competition. Mainly swam in USA.
  • LCM: Long Course Meters (50M), this is the standard distance used for international competitions and the Olympics
  • SCM: Short Course Meters (25M), this is the distance used during summer league season

**note about times, SCY will appear the fastest followed by SCM and the slowest times will be LCM.

  • Positive Check: A declaration of intent to swim an event on the day of competition
    • Failure to swim a positive checked event will result in a penalty
  • Deck Entry: Enrolling a swimmers in an event the day of the competition
  • Heats: A division of an event
    • Preliminaries or Trials: Meet session(s) where heats are held
    • Finals: Concluding preliminary session(s) of a meet where the top swimmers return to race again
    • Consolation final (B or C Final):  Fastest swimmers who did not achieve top 8
    • Final (A final): Top 8 swimmers of a particular event)
  • Scratch: Withdraw an entry from competition. **For Championship meets with Trials/Finals swimmers have 30min from the time their event is announced to declare their intentions. Swimmers who fail to scratch will be seeded into finals session. 
    • Failure to appear for a finals event will result in expulsion from the remainder of the meet.
  • LSC (Local Swimming Committee): A local governing body for USA-S
  • DQ: Disqualification, times achieved will not be recorded
  • NT: No Time
  • NS: No Swim