ALL ABOUT SWIM MEETS

Swim meets happen most of the Saturdays beginning end of April and run through the end of June, with the Championship meet culminating the season on the last weekend of June.  Each meet follows pretty much the same schedule, outlined below.

Warm-ups

For most meets, warm-up sessions before meets begin at 7:15 a.m. for home meets and 8 a.m. for away meets.  The warm-ups take about half an hour and give the swimmers a chance to loosen up muscles and practice starts and turns before their races.  (Some children do not like warm-ups, especially when it is still foggy outside or if they went to bed late.)  It’s a good idea for your swimmer to bring at least three towels, and have some warm sweats to pull on after warm-ups (many bring sleeping bags to crawl into). Try to get a good night’s sleep before a meet.

Snack Bar

If your swimmer hasn’t had breakfast yet, there will always be a snack bar serving breakfast items such as bagels, fruit, juices, hot chocolate, soup, and of course, donuts and coffee for the parents. NO DONUTS FOR THE SWIMMERS! You can always pack a bag with breakfast items as well.  The snack bar also serves hot lunch items later on in the meet as well as a variety of beverages.  Snack bars will be at all swim meets and are major fund-raisers for the hosting teams.

Distances

8 & Under swim 1 lap (25 yards) for the freestyle, back, breast and fly races.  For the INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY (called IM), they swim 1 lap of fly, then 1 lap of back, then 1 lap of breast and finally 1 lap of free for a total of 4 laps or 100 yards.

All other age groups swim 50 yards for the freestyle, back, breaststroke and butterfly races and swim a 100 yard IM.  The exception is in the freestyle event for the 15 – 18 age group, when the swimmers swim 100 yards instead of 50 yards.

Relays

There are two kinds of relays: Medley and Freestyle.  There are Medley and Freestyle Relay races for each age group.  The Medley Relay is made up of two male swimmers and two female swimmers. The first swimmer swims 50 yards of backstroke, the next swimmer does 50 yards of breaststroke, the third swimmer does 50 yards of butterfly and the last swimmer swims 50 yards of freestyle (all 25 yards for 8U).  As mentioned above, the medley relays are the first events at a swim meet.  The Freestyle relays are the last event.  All the swimmers swim freestyle. Two male swimmers and two female swimmers from each group swim 50 yards (25 yards for 8U). Each swimmer is allowed to swim up to two relays.  The coaches pick the relay teams and post them the morning of the meet. A winning relay team contributes 7 points for their team score.

IMPORTANT:  If your swimmer has been picked to swim a relay, please make sure that they are around to swim the event. If your swimmer cannot swim the relay, make sure you inform the coaches so they can replace the spot with another swimmer.

Individual Races

Each swimmer is allowed to swim up to three individual events in dual meets.  They have five to choose from: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley.  Parents sign their swimmers up ahead of time for the races they want to swim on Team Unify, although it is a good idea to talk to the coaches to see which races they recommend. The computer desk will seed the races according to the swimmer's best times. An event can have many heats.  A heat is six swimmers (three from Lucas Valley, and three from the opposing team) that race at the same time.  The swimmers with the fastest seed times swim in the earlier heats.  The top three best times in each event score points for the team score.  The winner receives 5 points for his/her team, the 2nd place finisher earns 3 points for his/her team and the third gets 1 point.  However, if all three top swimmers are from one team, that team gets 8 points and the other team gets 1 point (“no sweep” rule). Swimmers can score from any heat.

Time Schedule

The following is an event and approximate time schedule.  When the opposing team is large, the meet can run longer. Some away meets may start later; some pools have only 5 lanes, so meets run longer, and some run 8 lanes so they can be much shorter. Events run in order of increasing age, with girls swimming before boys.

Swim Meet Awards

Your child will receive a ribbon for each individual race they swim.  Ribbons are given for 1st through 6th place for each heat, so the type of ribbon depends on how your child placed in the heat.  A label on the back of the ribbon will give the swimmer’s time in the event. All the ribbons are filed in the family folder bin and are usually available the Monday after a meet on the benches near the coach's clock.

If your swimmer improves their times in an individual event, they will also receive a special Best Time chip from the coaches at their weekly Monday meeting. These can be collected, and 3 can be exchanged for a coveted Lightning Bolt pin.

Special Notes

If your swimmer will not be able to attend a meet, please let one of the coaches know by Tuesday, before the meet.  If your child is going to swim, make sure to commit them to the meet on Team Unify no later than Tuesday evening. The meets are seeded Wednesday, and it is either difficult or impossible to add your child after sign-ups are closed.

Heat sheets will be made available on our website Friday afternoon. It is helpful to either print or save them on your phone as reception is sometimes spotty. Heat sheets will also always be posted at every meet. Most swimmers will write all their events on their forearm in sharpie so they can easily refer to it during the meet. The older swimmers will help the younger swimmers do this during time trials, but they usually write it as event, heat and lane. For example, an 8 year old girl swimming freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke may have something like:

# 6 Free H4 L4

# 16 Back H3 L6

# 26 Breast H2 L4

On the day of the meet, we have special volunteers to make sure that our 8&under swimmers line up in the proper heat and lanes.  If your swimmer is in an older swim group, please have them check with the coaches or older swimmers if they are not sure what or when they are swimming.  It is the responsibility of the parents and their swimmers (not the line-up volunteers) to make sure the children line up on time, so you need to pay attention to the progress of the meet.

Age-Ups

If, during the swim season, a swimmer has a birthday that will move him/her up to the next age group, Marin Swim League rules state that the child must compete in that age group starting at the next swim meet. For example, if your child is 10 years old at the start of the season and has a birthday in June, then your child will “age-up” to the 11 – 12 age group for the swim meet following the birthday and swim in that age group’s practices and meets for the remainder of the season.

Other Meets

There are two Marin Swim League meets that are run differently than dual meets. They are ALLSTARS and CHAMPIONSHIPS. Each team in the league takes turns hosting the meets, but all teams provide volunteers to work the meets.

The All Star meet is held at the location determined by the MSL and will be announced before the event. Swimmers must acheive qualifying times to enter this meet. These times are posted on the Marin Swim League website (https://www.marinswimleague.org). It is considered quite an honor to qualify for All Stars.

The Championship Meet is held at the Indian Valley College Pool in Ignacio the last Saturday in June. CHAMPIONSHIPS is a meet for the entire league. It is open to all swimmers on every team, and we encourage everyone to plan on attending. The top 16 swimmers at Champs earn points for their teams and all the MSL teams are competing for the top spot. There are also individual high point trophies for the top 3 boy and girl swimmers in each age group.