Ashland Stingrays Swim Team

This page will give you the basics of summer swim.

Home meets:

• Home meets take place at the Ashland pool.
• Tent set up in allowed after 8:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding the Saturday meet per the Ashland Home Owner Association rules. Tents set up prior to 8:00 pm WILL BE TAKEN DOWN.

Pep & Preps: 

• These all-age events occur the Friday evening prior to a Saturday home meet.
• Activities are designed to promote team spirit and camaraderie.
• Parents and older swimmers help prepare the pool deck for the swim meet.
• Sweet treats are available for purchase, with part of the proceeds benefitting the Ashland Swim Team.

What to Expect on Meet Mornings: 

• Coach Bodmer will send an email prior to the meet letting swimmers know what time they need to be on deck for warm ups (these are early mornings!).
• Swimmers are expected to participate in warm ups; failure to do so may result in removal from relay events.
• Swimmers must be prepared with the following: appropriate swim suit (one piece for girls, jammers for boys—team suit is encouraged but not required), towel, cap, goggles (it’s best to have extra in the event of loss or breakage), sunscreen, and a large water bottle. Hydration during these hot meets is critical.
• Meets take place in all safe weather, to include rain, at the discretion of the life guards. Lightening will result in meet delays.
• If you are volunteering, check-in with our Volunteer Coordinator at the entry area of the pool deck.

Concessions: 

• The Concessions booth at home meets offers a variety of delicious options throughout the meet, to include Chik Fil A, Lolitas breakfast burritos, New China fried rice, noodles and egg rolls, snow cones, donuts, burgers and more. Both cash and Venmo are accepted.
• Concessions are also offered at meets hosted by other teams (“away meets”), and you are always welcome to pack your own snacks to bring with you.

Heat Sheets: 

• Prior to meets, Coach Bodmer will send out a “Heat Sheet.” This will allow you to see which events and heats your swimmer has been entered into.
• Swimmers often track their events by writing them on their arm in Sharpie (Event Number/Heat/Lane).
• If your swimmer is not able to participate in their assigned events, please let Coach Bodmer know as soon as possible. This is especially critically for relay events.

Announcer: 

• PA systems are set up at meets to keep attendees both informed and entertained. It is important to listen carefully for announcements that it is time to report to Clerk of Course (i.e. “check in”) for your child’s events. Missed events cannot be made up.

General Swim Meet Information: 

• Swim meets are organized around “events.” An event is defined as a race in a specific stroke, distance, age group, and sex (for example, Girls 9/10 25 Meter Butterfly).
• Events are divided into “heats.” Heats determine the order in which a swimmer competes and in which lane (for example, Heat 3, Lane 1). Heats are compiled based on previous entry times, so swimmers are grouped with others of similar pace, and are ordered from slowest to fastest entry times. Once the meet is over, all heats are compiled by the officials to determine final places.
• Swimmers are placed into events based on coaches’ assessment of ability, how often the swimmer has previously competed in each event, and whether or not the swimmer is able to compete with a “legal” stroke.
• Swimmers are allowed to compete in up to three (3) individual events and two (2) relay events per meet.
• Meets are run in the same order every week. The heat sheet (which is the meet program) will be sent out prior to the meet, detailing all swimmers and their events, heats and lane assignments. It will also list their best time in each event (or a “NT” or no time, if they are new to the event). NT swimmers are generally placed in the first heat of each event.

The event schedule will be the same each week and is as follows:

• Relays are determined by Coach Bodmer, using swimmers’ individual best times to assign relay teams.
• There are often multiple opportunities to swim on a relay (to include A, B and C relays—determined by times) throughout the summer season.

Medley

• IM stands for Individual Medley. To compete in the IM, swimmers must be able to complete all four strokes legally.
• The 100 IM is as follows: 25 meters Butterfly, 25 meters Backstroke, 25 meters Breaststroke and 25 meters Freestyle.
• The order of strokes in the Medley relay differs from the IM (Individual Medley). Relays are swum in the following order: Backstroke, Butterfly, Breaststroke, Freestyle, with a different swimmer swimming each stroke.

Disqualification (DQ)

• The Summer Swim League complies with USA Swimming rules. All rules are applied to all swimmers, regardless of age and experience. Trained volunteer officials will oversee the meet to determine whether a swimmer has met rules in the following : stroke, turns at wall, starts, and finishes.
• While no one wants to get a DQ for a race, these are a chance for a swimmer to learn proper technique and whould be viewed as a learning experience rather than a failure. Every swimmer has experienced a DQ at some point, and at every level of competition.

Course

• The course is the designated distance over which the competition is conducted. The standard is 25 Meters for Summer league meets. In Summer League, one length is considered 25 Meters. A lap is considered two lengths (down and back).

PWSL Division Championship Meet (Divisionals)

• Prince William Swim League is divided into six divisions, each division determined by the size and strength of each team.
• The last meet of the summer is known as Divisionals, and brings three (3) teams together to compete, versus the standard two (2) teams during regular summer meets.
• To qualify for Divisionals, a swimmer must have competed in at least two summer swim meets. Swimmers may only compete in events for which they have a legal time for the current season.
• Coaches determine Divisionals eligibility and event assignments. 

Awards

• Ribbons are distributed at practices following each swim meet to swimmers who placed in the top 12 in each individual event and top 3 relay events and/or personal best ribbons for improving their finishing time by a second or more in an event.
• Heat winners receive a ribbon at the end of their heat; most teams will give the ribbon holder a free treat for winning their heat.
• After the Divisional Meet, ribbons are awarded to the top 24 for individual events, and the top 4 relays.

PWSL Meet Scoring:

Dual Meet Scoring 

Swimmers earn points for their teams by competing in relay events and by being one of the six fastest finishers on their team in individual events. The team with the most points wins the meet.

Relay Event Scoring:

First place in relay events is won by the fastest legal swim; the opponent takes 2nd Place automatically as long as they are not disqualified (DQ). Therefore, the same team cannot score points for both First and Second Places.