Cuts for Making HS Team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son’s school (not one of the ones listed) times to make the team:
Girls:

200 free 2:16

200 IM 2:34

50 free 27.5

100 fly 1:10

100 free 1:01

500 free 6:00

100 back 1:11

100 breast 1:20



Boys:

200 free 2:02

200 IM 2:22

50 free 24.10

100 fly 1:00

100 free :54

500 free 5:40

100 back 1:02

100 breast 1:11

Why are these cuts so much harder for boys, accounting for gender differences? Most of the girls’ times are 13-14 BB, while the boys’ (especially sprints) are 13-14 A+. The 50 free time for boys is right between an AA and AAA! Most boys would be 14 trying out as freshmen, many of whom have not yet had their big growth spurt. Makes no sense. Do they just have a lot more boys who want to swim? Surprising, since usually it’s the opposite.

I'm guessing because the boys team is significantly stringer than the girls. Robo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson has cuts too allegedly --- where would these be posted?

They had 130-140 on their practice roster sign up from what I heard. Swimmers will be told if they make the team.

They barely cut anyone. 95 kids!

Are you saying they kept almost 95 swimmers? Isn’t the max 64?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WSHS team cut club swimmers for both girls and boys. The coach said they limit “to around 30” for each team. The boys team in particular is very competitive.

More boys trying out than girls too I heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son’s school (not one of the ones listed) times to make the team:
Girls:

200 free 2:16

200 IM 2:34

50 free 27.5

100 fly 1:10

100 free 1:01

500 free 6:00

100 back 1:11

100 breast 1:20



Boys:

200 free 2:02

200 IM 2:22

50 free 24.10

100 fly 1:00

100 free :54

500 free 5:40

100 back 1:02

100 breast 1:11

Why are these cuts so much harder for boys, accounting for gender differences? Most of the girls’ times are 13-14 BB, while the boys’ (especially sprints) are 13-14 A+. The 50 free time for boys is right between an AA and AAA! Most boys would be 14 trying out as freshmen, many of whom have not yet had their big growth spurt. Makes no sense. Do they just have a lot more boys who want to swim? Surprising, since usually it’s the opposite.

The team had more boys show interest at the initial meeting, so there are more boys to cut than girls.
They don’t need to beat the time for every stroke, and the coach is going to balance the team based on who’s best at stroke. Tryouts for us were yesterday, varsity was chosen, we find out Sunday who made the JV team.
A few of the freshman are fast and beat most of the older kids.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised they have JV. Our very large FCPS cuts a ton of kids but only has Varsity swimming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson has cuts too allegedly --- where would these be posted?

They had 130-140 on their practice roster sign up from what I heard. Swimmers will be told if they make the team.

They barely cut anyone. 95 kids!

Are you saying they kept almost 95 swimmers? Isn’t the max 64?

There is no max-- though you only really need ~40 for a meet. So this many kids means either half the team doing nothing or faster kids getting fewer events to let slower kids do something. Both options suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised they have JV. Our very large FCPS cuts a ton of kids but only has Varsity swimming.

They actually don’t technically have a JV. But the coach divides them up that way since they have to divide for practices and some far away meets they only take the top swimmers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson has cuts too allegedly --- where would these be posted?

They had 130-140 on their practice roster sign up from what I heard. Swimmers will be told if they make the team.

They barely cut anyone. 95 kids!

Are you saying they kept almost 95 swimmers? Isn’t the max 64?

There is no max-- though you only really need ~40 for a meet. So this many kids means either half the team doing nothing or faster kids getting fewer events to let slower kids do something. Both options suck.

Last year our team had around 55. This year coach decided to cut to 48. It’s tough choices and either way, some parents and kids won’t be happy.
I say that as a parent of a sophomore that is likely to be cut. I understand the rationale but I wish my son could continue on the team. But such is life - you don’t always get what you want, even when you work hard and go to extra clinics.
It’s a tough choice this year for the team - a lot of freshman with very competitive times. Does the coach cut the slower seniors? But it’s their last year… Slower juniors? Slower sophomores? There’s no guarantee next years batch of freshman will be this competitive, so if you cut too many of this year sophomores and juniors, what does the team look like next year?
My older DS was cut from tennis his senior year. He didn’t make varsity, and would be seeded top of JV, but coach wanted to develop the younger players. Again, understand the rationale but it still hurt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There is no max-- though you only really need ~40 for a meet. So this many kids means either half the team doing nothing or faster kids getting fewer events to let slower kids do something. Both options suck.

Can someone elaborate on that ~40 number? Is that boys/girls and dive? I’m new to HS swim and new to HS meets. I have a freshman that made the team but is likely one of the slower swimmers. I’m wondering if they have a chance to swim at meets. Team has 60ish swimmers total.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There is no max-- though you only really need ~40 for a meet. So this many kids means either half the team doing nothing or faster kids getting fewer events to let slower kids do something. Both options suck.

Can someone elaborate on that ~40 number? Is that boys/girls and dive? I’m new to HS swim and new to HS meets. I have a freshman that made the team but is likely one of the slower swimmers. I’m wondering if they have a chance to swim at meets. Team has 60ish swimmers total.

There are eight individual events and each team enters four swimmers-- that's 32 per gender. Each swimmer can do two events, so that's 16 per gender plus four divers. You only NEED 20 boys and 20 girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There is no max-- though you only really need ~40 for a meet. So this many kids means either half the team doing nothing or faster kids getting fewer events to let slower kids do something. Both options suck.

Can someone elaborate on that ~40 number? Is that boys/girls and dive? I’m new to HS swim and new to HS meets. I have a freshman that made the team but is likely one of the slower swimmers. I’m wondering if they have a chance to swim at meets. Team has 60ish swimmers total.

High school meets consist of 8 individual swim events for both boys and girls + 3 relays for each + diving. In dual meets and districts, each team can enter 4 swimmers per individual event. If each kid swims 2 individual events, which is the limit, and up to 2 relays you need 32 swimmers (16 boys, 16 girls) to fill a meet. If some kids specialize in a single event or as a coach you want to get more kids involved in those 4th seed slots, then you start adding one-event swimmers which pushes 32 closer to 40.

Beyond Districts, swimmers have to qualify via District Finals or Region Finals or by meeting a time standard.

See order of events for a typical high school meet here: https://www.battlefieldswimming.com/order-of-events/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There is no max-- though you only really need ~40 for a meet. So this many kids means either half the team doing nothing or faster kids getting fewer events to let slower kids do something. Both options suck.

Can someone elaborate on that ~40 number? Is that boys/girls and dive? I’m new to HS swim and new to HS meets. I have a freshman that made the team but is likely one of the slower swimmers. I’m wondering if they have a chance to swim at meets. Team has 60ish swimmers total.

High school meets consist of 8 individual swim events for both boys and girls + 3 relays for each + diving. In dual meets and districts, each team can enter 4 swimmers per individual event. If each kid swims 2 individual events, which is the limit, and up to 2 relays you need 32 swimmers (16 boys, 16 girls) to fill a meet. If some kids specialize in a single event or as a coach you want to get more kids involved in those 4th seed slots, then you start adding one-event swimmers which pushes 32 closer to 40.

Beyond Districts, swimmers have to qualify via District Finals or Region Finals or by meeting a time standard.

See order of events for a typical high school meet here: https://www.battlefieldswimming.com/order-of-events/

Depending on the meet, teams can enter exhibition only swimmers. They don’t count for any points - even if their time would mean they could have placed. This gives the swimmers experience, as well as an official time to potentially move up. But this makes the meets longer, which is why it really depends on the meet and other teams. The exhibition only swimmers are considered “JV” at my son’s school, although technically they don’t have a JV. Each school and each meet is a little bit different.

[Anonymous]

Teams that are 95 kids? How the heck does that work for practices? How lanes does your HS team get?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teams that are 95 kids? How the heck does that work for practices? How lanes does your HS team get?

Not enough to have 95 kids in the water at once, that's for sure. I think four.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the HS meet explanations— I appreciate it!