USA Swimming on Friday provided an update to its membership about meet sanctioning policies for September. Sanctioning in the new month will continue similarly to those in August, namely Local Swimming Committees (LSC) will be limited to the sanctioning of meets comprised only of athletes and clubs registered within the LSC.
Some exceptions may be granted for clubs that are geographically isolated within their LSC to compete in an adjacent LSC with permission from both the club’s LSC and the adjacent LSC.
“We remain focused on supporting our teams and members in their return to training and their continued progression through our “crawl, walk, race” return to competition,” the USA Swimming announcement reads. “There has been little change in circumstance regarding necessary precautions to take due to COVID-19 and the related access to water.”
Times swum at meets in September will continue to be allowed to count for any and all purposes, including qualifying for national-level meets and programs like select camps and Scholastic All-America.
The deadline for qualifying for the 2019-2020 Scholastic All-America program was extended to August 31, so times swum beginning in September will begin consideration for the 2020-2021 program.
September 1 also marks the official start of the new ‘season’ for USA Swimming. That includes things like the start of the new National Team period, and the rollover to the new season of the organization’s national rankings databases and other national programs like IMX, Club Excellence, and National Select Camp selection periods.