Meets
About Meets
We participate in 4 Dual Meets this season. They take place on Saturdays, beginning at 8 am and usually finishing before 1 pm. Each meet has approximately 90 events covering various combinations of age group, gender and stroke.
The age of a swimmer on June 1 determines the age group (6 and under, 8 and under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14 and 15-18) in which that swimmer will participate. Each swimmer may swim in three individual events and two relays in his or her age group. Each event has one or more heats of six swimmer each. Swimmers are seeded into heats by their event times from previous meets.
The league awards ribbons to the top six finishers in each event, but team points only to the top four. Swimmers are coached to swim strokes according to MHSL guidelines. Swimmers age 8 and older are subject to disqualification by stroke and turn judges. Swimmers age 6 and younger do not compete for points, but they still receive participation ribbons.
After the regular season, each division puts on a Prelims meet to determine which swimmers move on to swim in the championship meet the following Saturday. Because the two prelims are on weekdays, divided by age groups, parent volunteers are especially important. MHSL by-laws state that for a swimmer to compete in prelims and/or championships, he or she must have attended at least 10 practices during the regular season and swum in at least two dual meets.
The Championships meet is the sixth meet of the season. Prelim qualifiers from all teams in the division, as well as alternates and relay swimmers, are involved. (Relay swimmers need not have qualified in an individual event.) All swimmers are encouraged to attend and cheer their teammates. Team trophies are presented at the end of the meet.
The top swimmers in each division qualify for All Stars, the last meet of the season in which the four divisions’ best swimmers compete. To qualify, swimmers must beat or meet a pre-set time in an event during a dual meet, Prelims or Championships.
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