Dual Meet Details
The heart of the summer swim season is the intra-division competition decided by a series of five NVSL Dual Meets (A-Meets), which take place over the course of consecutive Saturday mornings from late June to late July. These meets start at 9:00 am and last less than three hours. Since teams are grouped based on similar talent levels, Dual Meets are often thrilling and closely contested, decided by the last few relay events.
Events
Dual Meets consist of 52, single-heat events. There are 40 individual events (2 genders X 5 age groups X 4 strokes = 40) and 12 relay events (2 genders X 5 age groups + 2 mixed age relays). The individual events are held first in the following order: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Within the strokes, events proceed from youngest to oldest age groups, alternating boys and girls. So, boys 8 & unders go first, followed by girls 8 & unders, then boys 9-10, girls 9-10 and so on. The relays proceed in a similar order, with the boys and girls mixed age relays concluding the meet. The mixed age relays are 200 meter freestyle relays swum in the following order, 11-12 year old, 9-10 year old, 13-14 year old, and 15-18 year old.
Swimmer Selection
Swimmer selection is based on maximizing the probability of Gators’ victory. By rule, each team enters up to three swimmers in each individual event and no swimmer can swim more than two individual events. Given these constraints, a minimum of sixty swimmers, six per age group, is needed to “fill” all the lanes in a Dual Meet. It may be necessary or competitively advantageous to enter a swimmer in an older age group, or “swim up.” This typically occurs if a particular age group/gender does not have 6 available swimmers or an unexpected absence (scratch) leaves an empty lane. It should be understood by swimmers and parents that Dual Meets are team events. Swimmers may not be selected to swim their favorite event/stroke. Swimmers’ events selection is based on maximizing team performance.
Lane Assignments
The home team swims in lanes 1, 3, and 5 while the visitors swim in lanes 2, 4, and 6.
Scoring
In the individual events, a first place finish earns 5 points for the team, a second place 3 points and a third place finish 1 point. In the event of a tie, the points for the places involved are equally split among the swimmers. For example, in a two-way tie for second place, each swimmer earns 2 points (3 points for second plus 1 point for third equals 4 points, half for each swimmer). No third place would be awarded because the next swimmer is fourth. For a third place tie, each swimmer is awarded 1/2 point.
Relay winners are awarded 5 points. In the event of a tie, both teams are awarded 2.5 points
There are 420 points up for grabs in a Saturday meet. The team with the most points wins, and ties are rare but possible.
