2026 MCSL Division Seedings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t the simulations been run and reps/coaches notified? Does anyone have intel as to what Div A-C will look like for 2026?

Reps haven’t been notified but I’m sure the simulation was run

Pretty sure the simulation hasn’t been run yet. One team still has to swim their final A meet, tonight is when it’s going to go off, and MCSL can’t run the simulation until that A meet is done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the seedings out today?

Some parents are just obsessed and monitor all the kids, which is creepy and take the fun out of swimming.

I think a lot of parents actually want to move down divisions where it will be more fun.

It's not much more fun in the lower divisions. There are two types of parents, those who have club swimmers that are pushed to win (so that the team wins A meets), and those whose kids swim only during the summer and don't care about winning meets. This creates a bit of a tension and can tear a lower division team apart.

Not true. Over the years, we've been in B through F and and I would say the best in terms of being in the fun but still competitive sweetspot is D and E. Once you are in the top 3 divisions, it's mostly going to be year round swimmers swimming A meets.

I would argue that C is fun too. Our team’s division (which has varied over the years) really hasn’t impacted what % of non-club kids make A meets. We have some club kids who are very strong but barely make A meets because their cohort just happens to be extremely strong, and other age groups where many non-club kids are making A meets.

We are in C this year and I disagree. We were in lower divisions in the past and it was a lot more fun. This year is toxic with the competition and there are very few non-club kids making A meets other than in age groups where we don't have enough swimmers to fill lanes.

Lower divisions can be fun at B meets. At A meets, there is still pressure to win, and the few club kids who swim are often expected to rack up most of the points. That isn't very much fun for them.

Our club swimmers don't go to practices and dominate the meets. It must be fun for them or why are they doing it? If its not fun, drop out or do less and let others get to swim A meets. There should be a requirement to acutally participate in the team and do practices vs. just show up for A meets.

You should talk to your rep/team leadership to see if you can get this rule in place for your team.

And then the team may lose club swimmers who may be training for long course meets in June/July. This will lead to the summer team losing A meets and, at least in MCSL, not having fast swimmers as part of the computer simulations that dictate which division the team will be in the following year. Dropping divisions is a sure fire way to lose many families, especially those with top swimmers or who aspire to be.

A better rule would be that the club swimmers must show up to at least 1 (and ideally 2) practices a week. If they can't, then they need to show up to a B meet to cheer on the team. Club swimmers are often the de facto leaders of summer swim teams.

They aren't doing b meets, they aren't doing practices and worse the parents don't volunteer during the A meets. They aren't the leaders as they are only there for the A meets and they don't talk to anyone other than a select few.

Our club swimmers do do the B meets and the practices, and the club parents definitely volunteer. We don't have Saturday drop-ins; in fact, most of the time the club swimmers are bending over backwards to make it to summer team meets and events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t the simulations been run and reps/coaches notified? Does anyone have intel as to what Div A-C will look like for 2026?

Reps haven’t been notified but I’m sure the simulation was run

Pretty sure the simulation hasn’t been run yet. One team still has to swim their final A meet, tonight is when it’s going to go off, and MCSL can’t run the simulation until that A meet is done.

How do you swim an A meet with just one team participating? Don’t dual meets require 2 teams?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t the simulations been run and reps/coaches notified? Does anyone have intel as to what Div A-C will look like for 2026?

Reps haven’t been notified but I’m sure the simulation was run

Pretty sure the simulation hasn’t been run yet. One team still has to swim their final A meet, tonight is when it’s going to go off, and MCSL can’t run the simulation until that A meet is done.

How do you swim an A meet with just one team participating? Don’t dual meets require 2 teams?

It’s actually three teams bc Division O has that seven-team boondoggle

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the seedings out today?

Some parents are just obsessed and monitor all the kids, which is creepy and take the fun out of swimming.

I think a lot of parents actually want to move down divisions where it will be more fun.

It's not much more fun in the lower divisions. There are two types of parents, those who have club swimmers that are pushed to win (so that the team wins A meets), and those whose kids swim only during the summer and don't care about winning meets. This creates a bit of a tension and can tear a lower division team apart.

Not true. Over the years, we've been in B through F and and I would say the best in terms of being in the fun but still competitive sweetspot is D and E. Once you are in the top 3 divisions, it's mostly going to be year round swimmers swimming A meets.

I would argue that C is fun too. Our team’s division (which has varied over the years) really hasn’t impacted what % of non-club kids make A meets. We have some club kids who are very strong but barely make A meets because their cohort just happens to be extremely strong, and other age groups where many non-club kids are making A meets.

We are in C this year and I disagree. We were in lower divisions in the past and it was a lot more fun. This year is toxic with the competition and there are very few non-club kids making A meets other than in age groups where we don't have enough swimmers to fill lanes.

Lower divisions can be fun at B meets. At A meets, there is still pressure to win, and the few club kids who swim are often expected to rack up most of the points. That isn't very much fun for them.

Our club swimmers don't go to practices and dominate the meets. It must be fun for them or why are they doing it? If its not fun, drop out or do less and let others get to swim A meets. There should be a requirement to acutally participate in the team and do practices vs. just show up for A meets.

You should talk to your rep/team leadership to see if you can get this rule in place for your team.

And then the team may lose club swimmers who may be training for long course meets in June/July. This will lead to the summer team losing A meets and, at least in MCSL, not having fast swimmers as part of the computer simulations that dictate which division the team will be in the following year. Dropping divisions is a sure fire way to lose many families, especially those with top swimmers or who aspire to be.

A better rule would be that the club swimmers must show up to at least 1 (and ideally 2) practices a week. If they can't, then they need to show up to a B meet to cheer on the team. Club swimmers are often the de facto leaders of summer swim teams.

They aren't doing b meets, they aren't doing practices and worse the parents don't volunteer during the A meets. They aren't the leaders as they are only there for the A meets and they don't talk to anyone other than a select few.

Not on our team and on other teams where we know there are club swimmers. Some of the parents are the head referee or head timer, while others are just timers. If there are parents who don't volunteer, that's a separate issue from club swimmers attending summer team practices.

Also, I've seen summer team practices where club swimmers have gotten injured because the coach put kids of the same age into the same lane - kicks to the face often result. While this is on the coach, club swimmers get justifiably annoyed if lanes are over crowded and swimmers aren't coached to let a faster swimmer pass.

Same on ours. The club swimmer parents are the volunteers that lead almost everything. I don't think the team would run without them.

[Anonymous]

2026 MCSL Divisions on Website

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2026 MCSL Divisions on Website

Nope.

[Anonymous]

does anyone have any predictions / has run their own algorithms for some of the lower divisions?

[Anonymous]

Division A
Rockville
Stonegate
Stonebridge
Country Glen
Woodcliffe
Wildwood Manor

[Anonymous]

Division B
Bethesda
Mohican
River Falls
Darnestown
Glenwood
Flower Valley

Potomac to D

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Division A
Rockville
Stonegate
Stonebridge
Country Glen
Woodcliffe
Wildwood Manor

River falls stays in A over Woodcliffe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Division B
Bethesda
Mohican
River Falls
Darnestown
Glenwood
Flower Valley

Potomac to D

Potomac's downfall should be studied. Schlegel can't keep it up in A for long, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Is Woodley going to be seeded as if they have a team? Or is everybody going to move up one spot when they fold?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Division A
Rockville
Stonegate
Stonebridge
Country Glen
Woodcliffe
Wildwood Manor

River falls stays in A over Woodcliffe.

Is it River Falls or Woodcliffe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Division A
Rockville
Stonegate
Stonebridge
Country Glen
Woodcliffe
Wildwood Manor

River falls stays in A over Woodcliffe.

This was on the website for about a half an hour from 4:15 - 4:45