Anonymous wrote:If this is a true qualifier meet then the name should reflect that and there should be NFT and NST times. Had I known that I would not have signed DD up for events where she already has cuts. And I definitely would not have signed DS up. He’s not even close.

It is not a true qualifier meet, but that is what almost all meets are at this time of the year. I will say that kids with cuts would not sign up to swim them at this meet. This would be basic meet strategy since they will be swimming them in a few weeks at champs. Good meet strategy would to be swim your off events or events you have not swam in a while. So you will see different kids making finals on Saturday.

As for your son, it is a meet and it doesn't matter if he is close. It will be a fun meet.

If this is a true qualifier meet then the name should reflect that and there should be NFT and NST times. Had I known that I would not have signed DD up for events where she already has cuts. And I definitely would not have signed DS up. He’s not even close.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the difference between time trials and races. Wouldn’t time trials take just as long as races? How would that save time? I legitimately don’t understand this, not trying to sound snarky, but hoping to understand the point of a time trial vs. a race.

A "time trial" is a bunch of heats where each swimmer can swim whatever they want. During a given heat, you might have mixed genders and 3+ different strokes/distances being swum. They try to group them so each swimmer is about the same time. So you might see 100 Fly, 100 Free, and 100 Back all in the same heat, but you won't see 50 Free and 500 Free in the same heat.

Anonymous wrote:Do they ever do time trials at the end of a session for kids trying to make cuts? I remember doing and seeing that a few times growing up. Not when I was 12 and under, but definitely 13 and over. That seems preferable to letting everyone and their brother enter multiple qualifier meets.

"Sometimes". There will be time trials between the sessions at PVS Open Champs.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the difference between time trials and races. Wouldn’t time trials take just as long as races? How would that save time? I legitimately don’t understand this, not trying to sound snarky, but hoping to understand the point of a time trial vs. a race.

I posted earlier about time trials at the end of a session. The difference is that a swimmer who wants to do a time trial has to do it at the very end of the session, usually at the end of a finals night. So it’s only the officials and a couple of timers that have to stick around. Which is obviously very nice of them to do. But everyone else who swam in the meat gets to leave.

I don’t recall anybody time trialing a long distance event, usually a 50 or a 100 where somebody is just hundredths away from a cut. And I don’t remember there being more than a couple of heats’ worth of swims. Sometimes a friend or competitor would do it with the person trying to make a cut so they could feel like it was a race. And yeah, it probably was at the end of the finals night for JO’s or open champs, for kids trying to get junior and senior national cuts.

I don’t understand the difference between time trials and races. Wouldn’t time trials take just as long as races? How would that save time? I legitimately don’t understand this, not trying to sound snarky, but hoping to understand the point of a time trial vs. a race.

Anonymous wrote:What, in people's ideas, is a "qualifier" meet? Is it just any meet that does not have a QT? Or is it any meet from September until AGC times? I've never heard this terminology and not sure what it means exactly.

People are calling the February meets qualifier meets because they are the last chance to qualify for the March champs meets. At least 1 of the meets, the one Potomac Marlins runs, has NFT times, meaning if you already have a champs cut in an event you can’t swim it there. Most of the other meets are just regular meets with no QTs of any kind. Some clubs have their swimmers enter multiple meets in February to try and get cut times.

What, in people's ideas, is a "qualifier" meet? Is it just any meet that does not have a QT? Or is it any meet from September until AGC times? I've never heard this terminology and not sure what it means exactly.

Anonymous wrote:Do they ever do time trials at the end of a session for kids trying to make cuts? I remember doing and seeing that a few times growing up. Not when I was 12 and under, but definitely 13 and over. That seems preferable to letting everyone and their brother enter multiple qualifier meets.

Timed trials are for elite meets. These kids are trying for JOs.

Do they ever do time trials at the end of a session for kids trying to make cuts? I remember doing and seeing that a few times growing up. Not when I was 12 and under, but definitely 13 and over. That seems preferable to letting everyone and their brother enter multiple qualifier meets.

Anonymous wrote:Are they going to break up the 10U and 11/12 sessions? Seems the combined session will be too long to be in compliance. Plus it would be miserably long for all.

This was a great meet, and FXFX in general does great meets, but this one is generally oversubscribed. We have too many clubs that let their kids do SEVERAL qualifier meets when they should not. And there are not enough qualifier meets out there for teams to be signing up swimmers for multiples. Odds are if you didn't make the cut last week, you are not going to make the cut this week in that event. And, mentally doing some damage in the process.

So with this meet they always end up getting rid of prelims/finals, or cutting it down (now it is just Saturday night). Years ago this meet had finals both nights and there was prelims/finals for the 11-12s, which was awesome. Then they opened it up to 10&U, which was a mistake and it made the meet way too long and ended finals. There were several 14&U meets offered in the past few weeks, so I wish they would go back to making this meet for the 11&UP or event 13 and up.

There are a couple other qualifiers out there. But yea, we have some swimmers signed up for a few meets in a row and swimming the same events over and over... Not a great meet strategy.

Meanwhile every parent within 100 miles is trying to figure out how to get their kiddo, who only needs to drop 50 percent for that elusive AGC cut they’ve been trying for since September, into this meet. One last shot at fame and glory.

I think they're first reaching out to teams to see if they can reduce entries at all.

Are they going to break up the 10U and 11/12 sessions? Seems the combined session will be too long to be in compliance. Plus it would be miserably long for all.