City Meet Guide

Ollie Otter

City Meet Guide

YOU MUST DECLARE YOUR SWIMMER BY WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11! 

No exceptions. We need to know if your swimmer(s) will be competing at City Meet.

While you are in the system, declare for ALL meets for the rest of the season. 

 

What is City Meet?

When: Saturday June 28 - Sunday, June 29, 9am-4pm ish

Where: Clark Memorial Swim Center at Heather Farm Park, 301 N San Carlos. 

 

Second only to Conference, this meet is the most important meet of the year. It’s a lot of fun and provides a great opportunity for our swimmers to pop times.

This is a 2-day meet where swimmers get to compete against all the swim teams in Walnut Creek. Swimmers will swim in 3 individual races, with the potential to swim in relays. Races start at 9am each day and end roughly at 4pm. You will generally NOT be at the pool all day both days. See the Meet Schedule below for which strokes are on each day.

On Sunday afternoon, at the very end of the meet, there are additional relays including the All-Ages Relay, the Coaches Relay, and a Parents Relay. 

  • The All-Ages relay is a timed and scored event. There will be two events: The Girls All-Ages Relay and the Boys All-Ages Relay. Each relay team will consist of one swimmer from each age-group beginning with the youngest and progressing to the oldest. Each swimmer will swim one 25-yard length of Freestyle for a combined distance of 150 yards. This event will be scored as any other relay event is scored.
     
  • The Coaches and Parents Relays are exhibition relays and are just for fun. Please let us know if you’d like to participate in the parents relay!


PepRally

Friday, June 27
8:30am-12pm
@ WHO Pool

Pancakes will be served from 8:30am–12pm. We will have fun activities for the kids and don’t forget to decorate your car!

 

Buy a Program "Shout Out" For Your Swimmer 

Due 6/18
Swimmers love to see their photo and words of encouragement in the meet program. Purchase an “ad” for them and wish them luck. To secure your shout out in the 2025 All City Swim Meet program use the hyperlink below or click on the All City tab on the Walnut Creek Swim Club website and purchase directly. 

Purchase your shout out

If you cannot upload a file using this form, please email a copy of your shoutout to Corrina Edwards with the subject line: 2025 ALL CITY SHOUT OUT @ [email protected].

 

 

City Meet Ins and Outs

Tent Set Up
Friday, June 27
6-7pm
@ Heather Farm Pool

Families are invited to set up shade tents between 6-7pm on Friday, June 27. Arrive early as this is an informal mad dash social event to get your tent spot. There are 10 teams competing at City Meet and each team has a designated area to set up camp for the weekend. See the map below for the designated WHO team area.

Just like a regular dual meet there isn’t enough space for every family to have their own tent. Find some buddies and share the shade.

The swim complex will be locked both Friday and Saturday night. You may leave your shade tents in place overnight. Neither Walnut Creek Swim Club nor The City of Walnut Creek is responsible for theft of or damage to your belongings.


Parking
VIP parking passes for the parking lot in front of the pool are sold online. Starting at 9am, Friday 6/20, parking passes can be purchased on the WCSC website. Go to the "All City" tab and select "Parking". 

If you don’t buy a parking pass there is plenty of parking in the lots around the Heather Farm pool, as well as street parking.

 

Meet Sheets/Programs 
Meet Sheets will be digital. You’ll receive an email from Ollie Otter with the Meet Sheets. Physical copies will be sold for $10 during the meet at the apparel sales area near the snack shack.

Want to know which strokes your swimmer will swim before the Meet Sheets are emailed? During the week before City Meet, go to the Meet/Team Functions tab on the website and click the “Edit Commitment” button for City Meet. You should be able to see the events your child is scheduled to swim at the meet. Relays will be finalized by Friday evening before City Meet so even if a relay is not listed your swimmer may still be in a relay. A specific email will be sent regarding relays for City Meet.

 

Warm-Ups

WHO warm-ups are 7:30 – 7:50am in racing lanes 8-10 and warm-up lanes 4-5 on both Saturday and Sunday.  

  • Warm-up is VERY important for swimmers as it provides them an opportunity to become comfortable with a new pool, new blocks, and new flags. Knowing your backstroke count at this pool with these flags is very important. It is also necessary to warm-up the body before racing. 

  • 9 and over swimmers, please warm-up and warm-down in the warm-up pool 20 minutes before and immediately after your race.

    • In general, you want to warm-up and warm-down four times the amount of laps you swim in your race.  For example: 9/10s swims 50m (two laps), should swim at least eight laps, 20 minutes before the race and eight laps right after the race.
       

Clerk of the Course/Race Markings
City Meet can be loud, congested and confusing for our youngest swimmers.

***There are NO shepherds, BUT there is a Clerk of the Course.*** 

  • The Clerk of the Course is a large covered staging area (very similar concept to the WHO shephard area at dual meets) with chairs for ALL swimmers to wait to be called for their race. It is on the right side of the pool near the snack shack. 

  • Parents will need to listen to the announcements and look on Twitter to know when each event is lining up. Parents are responsible for getting their swimmers to the Clerk of the Course ON TIME.

  • No parents are allowed inside the Clerk of the Course. You will drop your swimmer off and then go wait to see them swim. 8 and Under swimmers will have a coach waiting with them inside the Clerk of the Course. 

  • All swimmers of all age groups must check in at the Clerk of the Course before each of their races. 

You can help the clerks and the meet officials by marking all 8 and Under Swimmers with a permanent marker as shown below. Please make sure to mark them clearly on their back shoulder as noted below with stroke, heat and lane.

  • Last Name and First Initial

  • Age Group

  • Event, Heat and Lane

  • For the relays, note which stroke they are swimming. 

    • Medley Relay – Back, Heat 2, and Lane 8. 

    • Free Relay – #2, Heat 1, Lane 9)

 

Event Schedule
City Meet is a very different format than our usual dual meets. There are 10 teams with roughly 1,800 swimmers competing. Your child will swim in 3 individual events + potential relays. The events are spread out over the 2 days so it’s likely you’ll have 1+ event(s) one day and 2+ events the other day. 

Saturday Events - first race is at 9am   

  • 11 and Up Individual Medley (IM) 

  • Freestyle

  • Butterfly

  • Medley Relay
     

Sunday Events - first race is at 9am  

  • 10 and Under Individual Medley (IM) 

  • 15/18 50 Yard Freestyle

  • Backstroke

  • Breaststroke

  • Free Relay

  • All-Ages Relay
     

  • Coaches Relay

  • Parent Relay
     

Relays

A and B Medley and Free Relay teams will be announced the week of City Meet. Relays will be subject to change based on times swam during the individual Freestyle and Butterfly races on Saturday morning. ALL swimmers should be prepared to swim in a relay. Relay changes will be posted outside of the coaches tent during the lunch break.

The All-Ages relay is two events: the Girls All-Ages Relay and the Boys All-Ages Relay. Each relay team will consist of one swimmer from each age-group. 

 

Updates During the Meet
During the meet, you will want to listen carefully to the announcements about any time/race changes. We highly suggest the following:

  • Follow the meet on Twitter @wcswim for pre-meet info and live meet updates

  • Meet Mobile (app you can download on your phone) to see updates on results

  • Check the official results that are printed and posted on the fence behind the timers.

  • Join our WHO Parents WhatsApp Chat. Informal, but a great resource during City Meet. Join us on WhatsApp 

 

Awards
For all individual races, the results will be split into 2 flights: Flight A and Flight B. Swimmers are placed in flights based on their race result times. Flight A consists of the faster half of the times and Flight B consists of the remaining swimmers. The top times in the A and B flights will receive points for the team and individual awards, as listed below. There is only one flight for relay events. 

Points earned for each race are as follows:

 

City Meet Jobs
It takes all hands on deck to make sure a meet of this size runs smoothly. This means ALL families with a swimmer racing at City Meet must sign up to work a job at City Meet. This is in addition to and may be a completely different job than your regular WHO season job.

  • City Meet Jobs will open at 5pm on Thursday, June 12

  • ALL families with swimmers participating in the City Meet are required to do ONE job at the meet. This includes families of 15-18 swimmers!

  • Subs may be available to cover a City Meet job but they MUST be at least 18 years old.   

    • Please communicate the sub's name and contact information to the Jobs coordinators (Mindy Baba & Jen Weinberg-Lynn - [email protected])

  • Jobs signup will close at 5pm on Sunday, June 15. Families not signed up by the deadline will be assigned a job.

 

What Are The Jobs?

  • Timers​

    • Timing in a specified lane for a 2 hour shift. ​Options for shifts will be as follows: 

  • 8:30am - 10:30am

  • 10:30am - 12:30pm

  • 12:30pm - 2:30pm

  • 2:30mp - 4:30pm (or until the meet ends)

  • Back Up/Relief Timers

    • Fill in for any timer that does not show or needs relief during shift

  • 1 person for AM for each day (8:30am - 12:30pm)

  • 1 person for PM for each day (12:30am - 4:30pm)

  • Coaches Support

    • ​This job involves getting to the meet Saturday and Sunday early to set up the area for our coaches, getting their morning coffee and lunch food orders, providing a cooler of ice cold drinks of their choice, and checking in on the coaches behind the blocks throughout the meet by bringing them water and providing any general assistance. 

      • 1 person for each day: 8am to 2pm

  • VIP Tent Runner

    • ​Coordinate with the Fundraising Team in order to pick up and deliver lunch for the VIP Tent family during the meet, and check in on the family in the afternoon for any Snack Shack orders to be ordered and picked up on their behalf.

      • 1 person for each day: 11am to 3pm

  • 15-18 Tent support

    • ​The 15-18 swimmers get their own tent to hang out in during city meet. This job involves getting to the meet early to set up their tent with food, drinks and decorations and checking throughout the day to see if more food or drink is needed. You must be able to provide a cooler with ice for the the drinks and a table for the food.

      • 8am to 2pm (1 person each day)

  • Spirit Tent

    • ​There is a spirit table where kids can do spirit activities and they can spin a wheel to get a small prize if they pop their time. The spirit team has all the supplies for this tent but you would be working at the tent. 

      • 1 person for AM shift for each day 9am - 12pm

      • 1 person for PM shift for each day 12pm - 3pm

  • Set up Friday afternoon (set up WHO stuff)

    • ​This team sets up the team pop up tents (VIP tent, 15-18 tent and spirit tent) for the team. You would meet at the WHO pool at 5PMpmait in line for gates to open at Heather Farms and set up pop-ups and supplies to our team area when gates open at 6pm, and be done no later than 7:00pm. A large car or truck to haul pop-ups and supplies will be required by the set up crew.

      • 4-5 people on Friday, June 27 from 5pm - 7pm

  • Take down Sunday afternoon

    • ​This team takes down the team pop up tents (VIP tent, 15-18 tent and spirit tent) as soon as the meet is over.  You would help clean up the team area, return any WHO items to our lost and found and take down WHO spirit signs around the team area and pool. A large car or truck will be required by the take down team. 

      • 4 people on Sunday, June 29 from 4pm to 6pm

 

 Additional Pro-Tips 

  • Swim-suits: The tighter the swim suit the better! Avoid swimsuits that are loose and baggy as they create a lot of drag in the water. Speedos for boys are a lot faster than jammers. 

  • Caps: All swimmers should wear caps to cut down drag from hair. Pack an extra cap! 

  • Food and nutrition: Heavy carbohydrates are good to eat the night before City Meet. Healthy foods like fruit and vegetables are also good to eat during the meet. Avoid fatty and sugary food if possible and save them for Sunday night once the meet is over.

    • There will be food trucks and other snacks available for purchase during the meet

    • Please bring snacks and plenty of water/ beverages for your family

  • Best times: City Meet and Conference meet are the best opportunities to earn a best time because the competition is more even in each heat and the pool is faster. Our goal is to have every swimmer earn at least one best time at City Meet