Meet Information: MSL Dual Meet Season Week One: Strawberry Seals at Lucas Valley Lightning - Saturday, April 27, 2024

Dear Seals Families:

Week one of the 2024 Marin Swim League (MSL) dual meet season begins tomorrow. The Seals will be visiting the Lightning at the Lucas Valley Homeowners Association Pool, an excellent six lane pool nestled between the beautiful hills of Lucas Valley.

This will be our first of seven dual meets. Each dual meet is an opportunity for swimmers to hone their racing skills in preparation for our most important meet, the Marin Swim League Championships (June 29, 2024). 

There are 185 swimmers entered in this meet so the meet will move quickly and end by noon.

Our team has several goals for this meet. 

1. To have fun in our races
2. To give our best effort in every race
3. To be considerate, polite, and friendly guests for our host, the Lucas Valley Lightning
4. To achieve a best time by swimming with improved skill

Best Times:

Swimmers can achieve a best time by improving stroke technique and racing skills. Best times feel great and build confidence. Swimmers have some degree of control of their racing technique and tactics but have no control of who they swim against, so a best time is a better measure of progress than ranking. This is why we focus on best times rather than ranking.

Achieving a best time is challenging so if your swimmer achieves a best time, consider it a great meet for your swimmer. Two best times means a swimmer has had an excellent day competing. Three best times is a rare accomplishment and can be considered a perfect meet day for your swimmer.

Location:  1201 Idylberry Rd, San Rafael, CA 94903

Parking is on the street so please arrive with ample time to find parking, walk to the pool, and get your swimmer prepared for warmup. I recommend planning to arrive 20 minutes ahead of your swimmer’s warm-up time.

Warmup:

The Lucas Valley pool is a six-lane pool so we will divider warmup into two shifts. Please have your swimmer(s) standing poolside on the block side of the pool a few minutes before the scheduled warmup time.

8:00 AM – 8:10 AM                    10 and Unders

8:10 AM – 8:25 AM                    11 and up

Team Meeting:

We will have our team meeting at 8:25 AM at the shallow end of the pool. At the meeting, we will provide racing tips, announce changes to our relays, and most importantly we will perform our team cheer. 

IMPORTNANT NOTE ABOUT EVENTS: 5, 14, 15, 24, 25, 34, 35, 44, 45, 54, 55, and 60.

As these are 15-18 events, and the MCAL High School Swimming Championship Meet is also tomorrow, some of these events may be combined or skipped. Please have 8 and under swimmers to the line up area early in case any of these events are skipped.

Heat Sheets and Hand Marking Sheets

Link to Heat Sheets

Link to Hand Marking Sheets

Relays:

Relays are the best part of a swim meet so swimmers should consider it a privilege to be selected to represent the team in a relay event. For this meet we will field up to three relay teams per age group in each relay event. Each team will be composed of two boys and two girls. 8 under relays are 100 yards in length with each swimmer swimming 25 yards of the race. For all other age groups, relays are 200 yards with each swimmer swimming 50 yards of the race. 

Medley relays are composed of one leg of each stroke in the following order:  backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. On freestyle relays, all swimmers swim freestyle. Medley relays take place at the start of the meet and freestyle relays are at the end.

Relays are often revised the day of the meet. Swimmers highlighted below in yellow are changes from the relays posted in the heat sheets. Changes to the Medley Relays may be announced at the team meeting.

Freestyle relays are often updated/changed after the breaststroke event so please have your swimmer inform Coach Mehrad or Coach Taylor if they cannot stay until the end of the meet.

If your swimmer is selected for a relay and cannot attend, please contact coach Mehrad at:  [email protected]