IMR? IMX? I M Confused.

In a little over three weeks, DART will host its 5th Annual IMX Challenge Meet, but what exactly does IMX mean?  

Youth swimmers evolve as they mature and learn.  The freestyle might be a swimmer’s best stroke at age ten, but they could develop into a top backstroker later on.  Similarly, a swimmer might not realize their penchant for endurance until their coach introduces them to longer distance events.  Consequently, young swimmers should avoid specialization until much later in their development, or run the risk of never discovering their true talent.

For that reason, USA Swimming encourages all teams and all coaches to promote all strokes at all distances to all swimmers.  They covet complete swimmers.  It's good for the sport.  To support that desire, USA Swimming created two scores called IMR (IM Ready) and IMX (IM eXtreme) to assess the "completeness" of swimmers.   To acquire a score, a swimmer must have attained times in each of five or six events, that include all four basic strokes and IM events.  The specific events required are different for IMR and IMX and depend on the swimmer’s age.

IMR Events

Ages 10 & Under:          100 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 100 IM (SC) or 200 IM (LC)

Ages 11 & 12:               200 Free, 50 Back, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 100 IM (SC) or 200 IM (LC)

Ages 13 & Over:            200 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM

IMX Events

Ages 10 & Under:          200 Free, 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM

Ages 11 & 12:               400 Free (LC) or 500 Free (SC), 100 Back, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 IM

Ages 13 & Over:            400 Free (LC) or 500 Free (SC), 200 Back, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 200 IM, 400 IM

An IMR or IMX score is simply the sum of Power Points for the required events.  If a swimmer had power point scores of 150, 200, 250, 50 and 300 in the required five IMR events, then their IMR score would be 950 (150+200+250+50+300).  If a swimmer lacked a time in one or more of the required events, they would have no score.

USA Swimming uses IMX and IMR scores to rank swimmers at the club, LSC and national levels.  These rankings can be seen on Deck Pass.  Also, they reward member clubs through the Club Recognition Program for having a high percentage of its membership with IMR/IMX scores.  They even conduct a series of swim meets, called the IM Xtreme Games, where swimmers must have an IMX score of 1500 to qualify.

As for the DART IMX Challenge, special awards will be presented to athletes with the highest IMX scores accrued during the meet (per age group).  Remember, one must swim (without DQ) all the required IMX events, to even have an IMX score, and the IMX Challenge is no different.