High School Swim Questions (VHSL)

[Anonymous]

Seconded that is up to the Regional AD. In our District (Patriot), you must compete at 4 meets to swim in the Postseason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seconded that is up to the Regional AD. In our District (Patriot), you must compete at 4 meets to swim in the Postseason.

We're in the Concorde District and it's similar...you have to swim at least half of the meets you are medically eligible for, so for most swimmers that is 4 out of 7. DC does have a good friend who could not participate in the first four meets of the season a couple of years ago due to an injury but was still eligible for the postseason after swimming all 3 of the remaining meets once cleared.

Also (at least as of two years ago, and in dive since that's where I've seen it happen), you could skip the District meet and go right to Regions if you already had a qualifying score/time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you miss any high school meets if you chose to swim on the high school team?

\High school sports are supposed to be prioritized over everything other than religious obligations.

Club swimmers routinely miss a HS meet or 2 because of conflicts with club meets.

Growing up not in the DMV, HS dual meets were almost always in the middle of the week not on Friday/Saturday.

Unfortunately, here they are often on Friday/Saturday. I don’t think there is a single meet that we have on any day other than Friday/Saturday.

Yep, that is the unfortunate state of affairs with pool capacity limits in the broader area.

One thing i dont understand is why can't FCPS and FCPA close the pools earlier on Saturday for those dual meets? Apart from my PVS meets, morning club practices, and FCPA swim classes in the morning, can they really not cloes the pool earlier at 2pm? 8pm start time for swim and ending at nearly 10pm. ugh.

HS sports are not prioritized over club swim.

It’s hard to get a best time at a dual meet. Some of our meets start at 9 pm which is ridiculous. No one swims well that late on a Friday after all day at school and morning swim practice. Also, out local rec pool is so hot and the air quality so bad, we had 2 kids pass out at the last meet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you miss any high school meets if you chose to swim on the high school team?

\High school sports are supposed to be prioritized over everything other than religious obligations.

Right or wrong, it’s very common for Northern Virginia swimmers at least to prioritize their big winter club meet over the conflicting high school meet (i.e., many FCPS kids miss a high school meet to swim Winter Classic or KLI). I’ve never heard of a HS coach pushing back on this, not to say it doesn’t happen. Because most high school meet times don’t count toward USA Swimming, kids want those big prelims/finals opportunities to get cuts, drop time in the context of recruiting etc. It’s an imperfect system, but it’s the norm for a lot of kids.

Also people get sick, life stuff happens.

My kid's team has a couple of winter multi-sport athletes so they prioritize based on how each team works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you miss any high school meets if you chose to swim on the high school team?

\High school sports are supposed to be prioritized over everything other than religious obligations.

Right or wrong, it’s very common for Northern Virginia swimmers at least to prioritize their big winter club meet over the conflicting high school meet (i.e., many FCPS kids miss a high school meet to swim Winter Classic or KLI). I’ve never heard of a HS coach pushing back on this, not to say it doesn’t happen. Because most high school meet times don’t count toward USA Swimming, kids want those big prelims/finals opportunities to get cuts, drop time in the context of recruiting etc. It’s an imperfect system, but it’s the norm for a lot of kids.

Also people get sick, life stuff happens.

My kid's team has a couple of winter multi-sport athletes so they prioritize based on how each team works.

A lot of the HS coaches are also club coaches. The club vs school conflicts are not foreign to them.

[Anonymous]

On this thread, I have seen top 8 from regionals go to states and top 5. Does anyone know for sure? We are class 6 in VHSL and very curious. Also any firm answer on what relay placings make state - ie top 4?

Last question - if a team makes a relay in regionals, do those exact 4 swimmers have to swim at states or can it be any 4 swimmers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On this thread, I have seen top 8 from regionals go to states and top 5. Does anyone know for sure? We are class 6 in VHSL and very curious. Also any firm answer on what relay placings make state - ie top 4?

Last question - if a team makes a relay in regionals, do those exact 4 swimmers have to swim at states or can it be any 4 swimmers?

Directly from the VHSL website and the Class 6 information packet:

Swimming:

1. Achieve a VHSL qualifying time in one or more individual or relay events. A qualifying time may be obtained during any 2025-2026 regular season High School meet, a VHSL sanctioned invitational, or in the school’s District or Regional Championship meet. A qualifying time must be achieved in the High School competition. USA Swimming and YMCA times are not allowed.

2. Top 5 finish in individual events in his/her Regional championship.

3. Top 4 finish in relay events in his/her Regional Championship.

*** Automatic qualifiers must still be entered by coach/team through the meet entry procedures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On this thread, I have seen top 8 from regionals go to states and top 5. Does anyone know for sure? We are class 6 in VHSL and very curious. Also any firm answer on what relay placings make state - ie top 4?

Last question - if a team makes a relay in regionals, do those exact 4 swimmers have to swim at states or can it be any 4 swimmers?

Directly from the VHSL website and the Class 6 information packet:

Swimming:

1. Achieve a VHSL qualifying time in one or more individual or relay events. A qualifying time may be obtained during any 2025-2026 regular season High School meet, a VHSL sanctioned invitational, or in the school’s District or Regional Championship meet. A qualifying time must be achieved in the High School competition. USA Swimming and YMCA times are not allowed.

2. Top 5 finish in individual events in his/her Regional championship.

3. Top 4 finish in relay events in his/her Regional Championship.

*** Automatic qualifiers must still be entered by coach/team through the meet entry procedures.

This is interesting. This conflicts with the VHSL handbook which states top 8 finishers for individual events: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BvoYUskJhA9plU4TXnjVuUU1siycAnJT/view

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On this thread, I have seen top 8 from regionals go to states and top 5. Does anyone know for sure? We are class 6 in VHSL and very curious. Also any firm answer on what relay placings make state - ie top 4?

Last question - if a team makes a relay in regionals, do those exact 4 swimmers have to swim at states or can it be any 4 swimmers?

Directly from the VHSL website and the Class 6 information packet:

Swimming:

1. Achieve a VHSL qualifying time in one or more individual or relay events. A qualifying time may be obtained during any 2025-2026 regular season High School meet, a VHSL sanctioned invitational, or in the school’s District or Regional Championship meet. A qualifying time must be achieved in the High School competition. USA Swimming and YMCA times are not allowed.

2. Top 5 finish in individual events in his/her Regional championship.

3. Top 4 finish in relay events in his/her Regional Championship.

*** Automatic qualifiers must still be entered by coach/team through the meet entry procedures.

This is interesting. This conflicts with the VHSL handbook which states top 8 finishers for individual events: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BvoYUskJhA9plU4TXnjVuUU1siycAnJT/view

PM 80-40-5 (3) in that document also says five individual, four relay.