How does one swim both A and B meets?

[Anonymous]

One mom I spoke to said she would like her DS to participate in both A and B meets. He is 8, and I know how both A and B meets work. What I want to know is if her kid qualifies to do all events, and he participates in IM, FS, backstroke, breaststroke , and relay. What is left to do is just butterfly, am I correct? Is it worth attending B meet, which is so so long to just do one event? What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Oh this can happen for sure.

I remember it’s a complicated formula for number of events and weeks that they’re allowed to do it for. Just look up your team rule book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One mom I spoke to said she would like her DS to participate in both A and B meets. He is 8, and I know how both A and B meets work. What I want to know is if her kid qualifies to do all events, and he participates in IM, FS, backstroke, breaststroke , and relay. What is left to do is just butterfly, am I correct? Is it worth attending B meet, which is so so long to just do one event? What am I missing?

Which league? (Obviously not NVSL)

[Anonymous]

Yes. One can swim some events in A and some in B.

[Anonymous]

I’m assuming this is MCSL based on the question. The rules on this vary by team. Some teams allow a swimmer to swim strokes in B meets that they just swam in the A meet if they didn’t come in 1st or 2nd. Some teams allow it only if the swimmer didn’t score points in the event at the A meet. Some teams don’t allow it if the swimmer swam an event at the A meet, regardless of where they placed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m assuming this is MCSL based on the question. The rules on this vary by team. Some teams allow a swimmer to swim strokes in B meets that they just swam in the A meet if they didn’t come in 1st or 2nd. Some teams allow it only if the swimmer didn’t score points in the event at the A meet. Some teams don’t allow it if the swimmer swam an event at the A meet, regardless of where they placed.

OP here. Yes, this is MCSL. I thought that the rules are the same for all teams? If a swimmer swam in events X, Y, and Z, then they can’t swim those events in B meets. Is it not the same for all MCSL teams? If you have a good swimmer, wouldn’t your team want you to swim in A meets vs B?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m assuming this is MCSL based on the question. The rules on this vary by team. Some teams allow a swimmer to swim strokes in B meets that they just swam in the A meet if they didn’t come in 1st or 2nd. Some teams allow it only if the swimmer didn’t score points in the event at the A meet. Some teams don’t allow it if the swimmer swam an event at the A meet, regardless of where they placed.

OP here. Yes, this is MCSL. I thought that the rules are the same for all teams? If a swimmer swam in events X, Y, and Z, then they can’t swim those events in B meets. Is it not the same for all MCSL teams? If you have a good swimmer, wouldn’t your team want you to swim in A meets vs B?

No, the rules are not the same for every team. The bigger teams tend to have the more restrictive rules because of how long their B meets can run. We used to be in MCSL and the rule for our team was the top 2 in each stroke could not swim those events again at the following B meets.

[Anonymous]

Yea B meet is different by team. Lower division often don't have enough swimmers so they probably let everyone swim. Maybe swim up on B meet or some type of creative arrangement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m assuming this is MCSL based on the question. The rules on this vary by team. Some teams allow a swimmer to swim strokes in B meets that they just swam in the A meet if they didn’t come in 1st or 2nd. Some teams allow it only if the swimmer didn’t score points in the event at the A meet. Some teams don’t allow it if the swimmer swam an event at the A meet, regardless of where they placed.

OP here. Yes, this is MCSL. I thought that the rules are the same for all teams? If a swimmer swam in events X, Y, and Z, then they can’t swim those events in B meets. Is it not the same for all MCSL teams? If you have a good swimmer, wouldn’t your team want you to swim in A meets vs B?

No, the rules are not the same for every team. The bigger teams tend to have the more restrictive rules because of how long their B meets can run. We used to be in MCSL and the rule for our team was the top 2 in each stroke could not swim those events again at the following B meets.

OP here. Omg you are right! I just checked the MCSL meet management handbook (page 60 for those who are interested). I have no idea. The few teams that I have checked all have the same rule of not repeating A events. Good to know that MCSL doesn’t govern this. Had no idea.

[Anonymous]

Very true. Our coaches set the A meet lineups, but our swimmers are allowed to pick their B meet events and the coaches usually let them have what they ask for. The coaches control the meet length by allowing only 2 events per swimmer, and they gently counsel swimmers away from event choices that are less than ideal: struggling swimmers asking for IM, strong swimmers asking for only their best stroke over and over again, etc. They want the kids to take appropriate chances to stretch themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One mom I spoke to said she would like her DS to participate in both A and B meets. He is 8, and I know how both A and B meets work. What I want to know is if her kid qualifies to do all events, and he participates in IM, FS, backstroke, breaststroke , and relay. What is left to do is just butterfly, am I correct? Is it worth attending B meet, which is so so long to just do one event? What am I missing?

My kids who swim A meets (varies according to the year, and who is "old" vs "young") are at the B meets anyway, to support their siblings, or cousins, or because I'm volunteering, or because they're junior coaches. So, they might as well swim what they're allowed to swim.

If I had one 8 year old who was making A meets in a bunch of strokes, we might make a different choice.

[Anonymous]

Depending on the team and division, you might be able to swim an event at a B meet that you swam at the A meet. It just wouldn’t count for points and would be marked ‘Exhibition’ on the meet results. Typically it’s the smaller teams that allow this. Larger teams don’t have space for this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m assuming this is MCSL based on the question. The rules on this vary by team. Some teams allow a swimmer to swim strokes in B meets that they just swam in the A meet if they didn’t come in 1st or 2nd. Some teams allow it only if the swimmer didn’t score points in the event at the A meet. Some teams don’t allow it if the swimmer swam an event at the A meet, regardless of where they placed.

OP here. Yes, this is MCSL. I thought that the rules are the same for all teams? If a swimmer swam in events X, Y, and Z, then they can’t swim those events in B meets. Is it not the same for all MCSL teams? If you have a good swimmer, wouldn’t your team want you to swim in A meets vs B?

No, the rules are not the same for every team. The bigger teams tend to have the more restrictive rules because of how long their B meets can run. We used to be in MCSL and the rule for our team was the top 2 in each stroke could not swim those events again at the following B meets.

OP here. Omg you are right! I just checked the MCSL meet management handbook (page 60 for those who are interested). I have no idea. The few teams that I have checked all have the same rule of not repeating A events. Good to know that MCSL doesn’t govern this. Had no idea.

NP - our rule is that kids who finish top three in the freestyle event and/or who swim in any other A meet events (e.g., IM) cannot swim those events in B meets. Because there are more swimmers in freestyle at A meets than the other events, we don't exclude, say, a kid who finished fifth in 50 free excluded from that event in the subsequent B meet.

My kids swam in both A and B meets last year and it was a lot. This year, they're all top of their age groups, so I'm hoping it will be mostly A meets. They still want to go to the B meets to dress up and cheer, etc., and we'll do that, but it will be nice not having to stay until the bitter end.

[Anonymous]

At our pool if you get a legal time in an A event you can’t swim that at the B meet. Some of the 10s like to swim IM at the B meet as there are usually enough 11-12s crowding them out at the A meet they don’t swim it there. An older swimmer who does do IM may want to practice their weaker strokes that they don’t swim at the A meet. It really depends

For your particular example unless I really had a vested interest in helping my swimmer develop their butterfly stroke if they are already swimming a full slate I would also think twice about staying until the end of the meet (which sometimes gets rained out anyways)

[Anonymous]

Also remember that the real purpose of B meets is to allow swimmers who didn’t get into an A meet to update their seed time in hopes of getting an A slot.