Hi all, 

I wanted to reach out to the team and talk about swimming time standards. 

Time standards are how swimmers are divided in swim meets. Swimmers in the "A" division do not generally swim against swimmers in the "B" division. There is a general standard that every USA swimmer and team uses. There are also meets that require specific times to be eligible to compete in. All swimmers start out in the "C" division and from there it is most like a ladder. Once you reach the next time requirement you ascend to the next division. C, B, BB, A, AA, AAA, AAAA in that specific stroke and distance. 

Attached I have added most time requirements that your swimmers should use to get themselves ready for future competitions. 

"Arizona Times" This is the most recent meet sheet i can find. Unfortunately it is from 2021. But the times don't change too much year to year so you can use these as a guide

"USA Time Standards" This is what every team in USA swimming uses. All swimmers start in the "C" division until they can meet the "B" time standard. The "BB" time standard is what Our zone uses to qualify for Zone Championships in January. 8 and under athletes need an "A" time to qualify for Zone Champs

"JO Times" The meet is no longer called Junior Olympics. It is now called the Age Group Championship. We swim at this meet 2 times a year. March for Short course championships and July for Long Course championships. 

"Far Western Times" This meet is the HIGHEST level of competition we go to. We swim at this meet 2 times a year. April for Short course championships and July for Long Course championships.

SWIMMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR KNOWING THEIR TIMES AND THEIR GOAL TIMES. If a swimmer is interested in attending the Arizona meet in December they need to take ownership of their swimming careers and know the times. Same for JO's, Far westerns and zone championships. At meets swimmers tell me they really want to Get a JO in a specific event. I then ask them what the JO time in and they don't know. 

Help your athletes goal set to help themselves be successful. 

Some meets are Long Course and Some are Short Course. Here is a  Conversion tool to help you convert times from Long Course Meters to Short course Yards. 

Hope this helps 
Dave