Generally each age/gender grouping sends 4 kids. You need 4 for your medley team. Usually contained in those 4 is your 2 fastest freestylers and they swim more events so typically your 3 and 4 only swim one event.

Anonymous wrote:2nd fastest in a stroke could easily land him in the medley particularly if the 1st fastest is fastest at another stroke. You need four different kids for the medley, you can’t swim the same kid twice.

OP here. Are we talking about 1 potential event then? Sorry, there was an earlier poster who gave a lengthy explanation about the carnival, but I got lost and didn’t quite get the potential scenarios.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I wouldn't cancel/rewrite a vacation plan on the chance of an 8U getting a slot in relay carnival. If swimming becomes a big part of their life later on, there will be other chances, and if they don't stay with swimming, this isn't likely to become a lifelong memory that should displace happy time with family. (We're deeply involved in summer swim, and I'm still standing by that assessment.)

OP here. Thank you for this solid advice! I will keep this in mind for sure.

Anonymous wrote:2nd fastest in a stroke could easily land him in the medley particularly if the 1st fastest is fastest at another stroke. You need four different kids for the medley, you can’t swim the same kid twice.

So true. My DS got picked for U8 butterfly leg even though he was the 4th fastest because he was always legal. The kids with the faster times sometimes DQd and they were also fast in other strokes. Best to ask the coach especially if he is good at breast or butterfly strokes.

Yeah, I wouldn't cancel/rewrite a vacation plan on the chance of an 8U getting a slot in relay carnival. If swimming becomes a big part of their life later on, there will be other chances, and if they don't stay with swimming, this isn't likely to become a lifelong memory that should displace happy time with family. (We're deeply involved in summer swim, and I'm still standing by that assessment.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2nd fastest in a stroke could easily land him in the medley particularly if the 1st fastest is fastest at another stroke. You need four different kids for the medley, you can’t swim the same kid twice.

I was just wondering about this too and you bring up a good point-my 8yo is second fastest so far in one stroke but the fastest swimmer is also a top swimmer in two other events. It’s very possible DC will get passed before then but I’m sweating it a bit because we have plans that day and I wasn’t expecting them to be in contention at all…

i would look at other teams under 8, if there is no chance for all star, i would keep the vacation plan

Anonymous wrote:2nd fastest in a stroke could easily land him in the medley particularly if the 1st fastest is fastest at another stroke. You need four different kids for the medley, you can’t swim the same kid twice.

I was just wondering about this too and you bring up a good point-my 8yo is second fastest so far in one stroke but the fastest swimmer is also a top swimmer in two other events. It’s very possible DC will get passed before then but I’m sweating it a bit because we have plans that day and I wasn’t expecting them to be in contention at all…

2nd fastest in a stroke could easily land him in the medley particularly if the 1st fastest is fastest at another stroke. You need four different kids for the medley, you can’t swim the same kid twice.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for all the responses. I’m still very confused. My kid is 8 and for freestyle, he’s the third fastest. He is second or third fastest in the other strokes. Does he have a chance in swimming in the carnival relay for A meet?

I asked because I’m considering shortening our 4th of July weekend vacation. He is already missing that weekend A meet. He’s a year round swimmer. We think it would be hard for him next year to participate in the A meets since he will be 9.

It's potentially just too soon to know, since there are like 2 more A meets + B meets before relay carnival, and your DC could get passed on the ladder - or drop time - between now and then. The best way to take an educated guess is to talk with the coach, who can at least try to predict how others will do, as well as your DC.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for all the responses. I’m still very confused. My kid is 8 and for freestyle, he’s the third fastest. He is second or third fastest in the other strokes. Does he have a chance in swimming in the carnival relay for A meet?

I asked because I’m considering shortening our 4th of July weekend vacation. He is already missing that weekend A meet. He’s a year round swimmer. We think it would be hard for him next year to participate in the A meets since he will be 9.

You should ask your coach to be sure, but it sounds like he would be needed for the 8&u boys Medley.

OP here. Thank you for all the responses. I’m still very confused. My kid is 8 and for freestyle, he’s the third fastest. He is second or third fastest in the other strokes. Does he have a chance in swimming in the carnival relay for A meet?

I asked because I’m considering shortening our 4th of July weekend vacation. He is already missing that weekend A meet. He’s a year round swimmer. We think it would be hard for him next year to participate in the A meets since he will be 9.

Great responses here already. Relay carnival is crazy (fun crazy, but crazy), and it is not short. Realistically speaking, if your swimmer never makes A meets, their on-paper odds for the A relay carnival (not all teams have a B one, so the A one may be your only one) are pretty slim, unless camp or travel plans pull other swimmers out. My DC1 has almost never missed out on an A meet but has never made the relay carnival because they are not near the top of the A meet crowd. Fortunately they like cheering.

Also if your relay team wins their event (and doesn’t DQ, some divisions have all their 8U medley teams DQ) then they go to all star relays which is the same weekend as individual all stars - all star relays on Saturday and individual all stars on Sunday. Teams are allowed to substitute swimmers as some of these kids had not planned to be around that weekend.

The events are:
each age/gender grouping medley relay (except for 15-18) so 8 events (4 swimmers from each age group and gender needed )
15-18s get a mixed medley relay, 1 event
Each age grouping has a mixed freestyle relay, another 5 events (2 boys and 2 girls)
There is also the usual 200 open medley from halftime of A meets, 2 events (one boy and one girl), 2 events
There are 2 freestyle relays - the usual A meet graduated freestyle which needs one from 8U, one from 9-10, one 11-12, and one 13-24) and then a crescendo which needs one from every age group. So another 4 events (2 boys and 2 girls). Then the only remaining one is the graduated medley which has the same 4 age group requirements as the graduated free relay but each swimmer swims a 25 of each stroke, 2 more events (boys and girls) so 22 events total


So what it ends up being is your top medley team from each age group / gender to fill out the 4 for the medley relay then your two fastest freestylers in each age / group gender. For the graduated relay you’ll probably have the right candidates already in the groupings so it really ends up being just four from each age/gender with two of them likely just doing the age/gender relay, the fastest and 2nd fastest freestyle (which are probably in that four) doing another one and then your fastest freestyler doing 2 more.

Can someone tell me more about MCSL carnival relay A meet? How many swimmers are chosen from each age group? Is it based on fastest swimmers for each stroke? How long is the meet?

I checked ReachtheWall, but the info on this is very limited.