Invitational Meets - The never ending supply of club-hosted swim meets provide a staple for most swimmers in the US. The overwhelming majority of swim competitions in this country come in the form of invitationals, dual meets and mini meets. All DART-hosted meets fall into this category, as do 95% of all Utah and Las Vegas meets.
Qualifier Club Meets - A small percentage of club-hosted meets attempt to raise the bar by requiring qualifying times (Time Standards). While time standards squeeze out swimmers without the necessary speed/experience, the format provides a raised level of competition for those who do. It also provides motivation to achieve faster times. DART has attended several such meets in recent years. The Lost Dutchman in Chandler Arizona and the Grand Junction Invite have become regulars on the DART meet schedule. The CHAT Invitational and DRAT's BB Qualifier provide such choice in Utah.
LSC Championship Meets - Each LSC holds two championship-style meets, one at the end of each swimming season. Invitation to these meets comes via attaining qualifying times only. Meets follow a Preliminary/Finals format and boast the top swimmers in the LSC. Utah's State meets represent the highest level of USA Swimming competition within Utah's borders. From here, the levels get increasingly more challenging and the qualifying times get increasingly faster.
Regional Meets - Before USA Swimming became USA Swimming, regional meets provided some of the highest levels of competition offered. Out west, the grand-daddy of such regional meets, called "Far Western Championships", still thrives despite swimming's structural changes. Meets take place in Morgan Hill California, twice annually. The meet has an 88 year history worth reading about and has hosted some big named swimmers/celebrities.
Zone Meets - The four zones exist to organize high level meets. Each season, the Western Zone holds age-group (age 14 and under) and senior (age 15-18) championship meets, that pit LSCs against one another. For the age-group meets, Utah assembles a unified "all-star" team of its best swimmers and travels to "Zones" as a unit. Senior Zones meets first came about this year, so its unknown if Utah plans to do the same for the seniors.
Sectional Meets - The four zones also host the highest level USA Swimming meets, short of the national level. Sectionals do away with age groups ... women versus women, men versus men. Western Sectionals draw the best high school-aged swimmers in the west, along with a few crazy-fast 13 and 14 years olds, some college kids, and a handful of older swimmers. Most top college swimmers compete in the NCAA championships ... the college equivalent of sectionals. While the Senior Zones meets also draw high school-aged swimmers, they serve as consolation meets for those unable to qualify for Sectionals. Since Speedo sponsors the sectional meets, they are often called the Speedo Series.
National Level - At the top of the USA Swimming food chain are two sets of meets, each held semiannually. Junior Nationals hosts the fastest youth (18 and under) swimmers in the country, and Nationals hosts the fastest swimmers in the country, period. Nationals supersedes the obsolete US Open meet, though the US Open still exists. During Olympic years, Summer Nationals transforms into the Olympic Trials, considered by many as the most competitive swim meet in the world, believing the depth of swimming talent in our country exceeds the depth at the Olympics.
International Level - FINA controls world swimming competition, including the Olympics and the World Championships.
No comments:
Post a Comment