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Age Group
Open
These meets do not have
qualification time standards. Typically, these meets offer each one
of the competitive strokes in the two distances offered by each
group. Some events may be open to multiple age groups. Each swimmer
is allowed to enter 3-5 events per day.
BB+/- Meet
Same as the Age Group Open
except only age group events are offered. Open events are not
offered.
Intrasquad Meets
Competitions between SMST
swimmers. These are good practice meets for beginning swimmers and
are held to build team sprit and camaraderie, and to introduce
beginning swimmers to competition.
Duals, Tris, and Quad Meets
Dual meets are competitions
between two clubs. Tri-meets and quad-meets include the number of
teams indicated. Dual meets MUST be finished in 4 hours, though
they may take as little as 2.5 hours. Duals, tris and quad meets
are IDEAL and highly recommended for young and new competitive
swimmers. Beginning swimmers participate mostly in these smaller,
shorter, less chaotic meets. Advanced swimmers may participate in
any level of meet, depending on personal schedules, qualifying
times, the athlete’s personal training needs and the
team’s need for their participation.
Invitational’s
An invitational is a meet
hosted by one team, which may invite many other teams to compete.
Several hundred swimmers may attend these meets. Frequently, only
swimmers with certain qualifying times may attend (see time
standards section, below).
Junior Olympic Championships
All swimmers who have reached
qualifying time based on the Sierra Nevada Swimming Junior Olympic
time standards may compete in the Junior Olympic Championships,
held at the end of the short and long course seasons. Athletes who
meet certain time standards may qualify for additional championship
meets such as Far Westerns, Sectional, Zone, and National
championships. Each successive level of championship meet brings
the swimmer against larger and larger pools of competitors, so that
the qualifying times are progressively faster to gain entry into
these meets (see time standards, below).
Far Western
Championships
This meet serves as a top level
competition for age group swimmers from around the western United
States, Canada and Mexico. The meet is held in Pacific Swimming
(Bay Area) and serves as a high priority meet for our top age group
swimmers.
Sectionals
The Marlins participate in the
“Gold” sectional championships which includes all teams
from California and Nevada. Sectional Championship meets are held
at the end of both Short Course and Long Course seasons for
swimmers with qualifying times
Western Zones
USA Swimming also divides the
United States into Zones (groupings of Sections) for the purpose of
conducting a Zone Championship meet. This meet occurs only at the
end of Long Course season. SNS selects a team to represent the LSC
at the meet. To be eligible, swimmers must first obtain a
qualifying time. Then swimmers submit an application including
qualifying times and coach recommendation. A committee of coaches
then selects the team that will to represent SNS in competing at
the Western Zone Championships.
USA Swimming Junior National
Championships
Junior Nationals are
exclusively for swimmers age 18 and under and the meet is held each
December (short course) and August (long course). This meet serves
as a stepping stone to the top national and international level
meets for 18 and under athletes.
USA Swimming National
Championships/ Olympic Trials/ US
Open
These top national level
competitions are held at different times throughout the year and
serve as qualifying meets for international level
competitions.
National Junior
Team
The National Junior Team is
comprised of the top 18 and under swimmers in the country and
serves as the first step in the National Team hierarchy. Team
members typically attend a National Team camp and an International
Competition. Making this team is a goal for many of our top
athletes.
Meet Awards
Swim meets are scored for both
individuals and teams. At most dual meets no awards are given.
However, dual meets offer the opportunity to earn qualifying times
for championship meets. Meets generally award ribbons or medals to
individuals.
Occasionally, individuals and teams may be awarded trophies. Meets
vary regarding how many individual awards they provide, please
refer to the meet sheet for details.
Swimming
Seasons
Short Course Season
-
This season runs from September 1 until March 31 each year. Meets
are generally swum in a 25-yard pool.
Long Course Season
-
This season runs from April 1 to August 31 each year. Meets are
generally swum in a 50-meter pool.
Competition Age
Classifications
There are seven different age
group classifications recognized by United States Swimming: 8 &
Under, 10 & Under, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17, 18 and Senior. The senior classification
includes any swimmer who has achieved the prescribed qualifying
time for the event. Not all age group classifications are offered
at every swim meet. The swimmer’s age on the first day of the
meet will govern the swimmers age for the entire meet. Within each age group, there
are recognized levels of achievement based on times. All swimmers
begin as "Novice" swimmers. As they improve, they advance from
"Novice" to "B", "A", "AA", and so on. Sierra Nevada swimming
publishes the time standards for each level yearly. A swimmer might
be at different levels in each stroke.
Time standards assist swimmers with measuring their improvement.
They also establish minimum entry requirements for some meets. Time
standards are different for each season and for each type of pool.
“
SCY
” means Short Course season times attained in a 25-Yard pool.
Most SMST Short Course events are held in 25-yard pools.
“LCM” means Long Course times obtained in a 50-Meter
pool. To locate the time standard for a swimmer’s event, you
must know what season it is, what type of pool it is (25 yards or
meters, or 50meters), and you must know the swimmer’s gender,
age and event.
Copies of SNS time standards are posted on SNS website
(www.sn-swimming.org)
web-site. In addition, each Marlin family will be provided with a
Sierra Nevada Guide each year which serves as the best resource for
time standards.
Sierra Nevada Swimming Time
Standards
USA Swimming, Inc. also sets national motivational time standards
by age group beginning with 10&Unders. These also begin with a
“B” time designation. The standards get progressively
faster and more difficult to achieve as a swimmer moves through
“A”, “AA”, “AAA” and
“AAAA” times.
Sierra Nevada Swimming Incorporated
has set “B” and “A” time standards for each
gender and age group. A BB+ time qualifies a swimmer 9 and older to
compete in the Junior Olympic Championships in that event. The B
standard is the first goal most swimmers strive to attain.
Achieving a B time means that the swimmer is getting strong in an
event, and may want to focus on that event to get an A time. For current SNS time
standards refer to website for standards. www.sn.swimming.org
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