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USA Swimming Lifts Restrictions on Times Counting for National Meets in August

USA Swimming has announced that LSCs will continue to sanction swim meets in August, and that the restrictions on how times can be used will be lifted.

On Friday, the organization announced its new plan for August after last week saw the first major run of sanctioned USA Swimming meets, almost entirely (but not exclusively) intrasquad events.

USA Swimming allowed teams to hold sanctioned meets in July for the first time since cancelling all sanctions in April. Times in July, however, won’t be allowed for qualifying for any meets above the LSC level, which includes Sectionals, Junior Nationals, and Nationals. At least one swimmer, rising high school senior Peter Sacca, swam new best times that are under the Junior Nationals qualifying standards last week, but those times won’t officially qualify him for the meet because of USA Swimming’s rules.

Those restrictions will be removed in August, though teams are still only allowed to compete within their LSC. USA Swimming did say that in some situations, where a club is geographically isolated from its LSC, that club may have opportunities to compete in an adjacent LSC with permission from the club’s LSC and the adjacent LSC.

The announcement comes as most of the country is seeing a rise in the number of new daily coronavirus cases. Thursday saw a record high of official newly-tested cases at 73,388. In total, the US reports 3.7 million positive tests for coronavirus, and 141,562 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

Full USA Swimming Press Release

As we continue to navigate these challenging times, we remain focused on supporting our teams and members in their return to training and competition.

We are aware of the considerable differences and effects of the COVID-19 crisis across the country and are being mindful of these as we further develop our “crawl, walk, race” strategies, initially introduced in June.

Following input from athletes, coaches, committee volunteers, and staff, the USA Swimming Board of Directors approved the following event sanctions for August 2020:

  • LSCs will be limited to the sanctioning of meets comprised only of athletes and clubs registered within the LSC.*
  • There will be no restrictions on the use of times

(*A club, geographically isolated within their LSC, may be granted the opportunity to compete in an adjacent LSC with permission from both the club’s LSC and the adjacent LSC.)

More than anything, it is important to remember that all training and competition must conform to local, state, and federal public health guidelines.

Should you have any questions regarding meet sanctioning and competition, please contact Joel Shinofield at [email protected].

 

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Icanfreezetime
4 years ago

From nothing to something and hoping our LSC encourages clubs to host a time trial before summer ends. Anything helps at this point for kids needing some encouragement to continue their restrictive training.

swimfan210_
4 years ago

Good decision! At first I didn’t really get how not making times count for national qualifying would make things more equal. I’m happy that hard work will be rewarded as usual. And here’s another (annoying) reminder to stay safe and follow the rules.

Swim&PoloDad
4 years ago

Is there a list of states and/or LSCs that are actually competing currently. Great that some kids can compete, a bummer for those that can’t.

Swim&PoloDad
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Thanks! Looks like Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin and Kansas thus far.

Swim&PoloDad
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

You’re right. I forgot Nevada. Brain cramp. . . .

swimcoach
4 years ago

good move by USA-Swimming. swimmers had everything taken from them. allowing times to count was the right move.

JCO
4 years ago

What does this mean in regards to Olympic Trials qualifying?

B Bruner
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

Braden, is the thought that OT qualifying times might be made faster to limit the size of the meet?

Anonymous
Reply to  B Bruner
4 years ago

USA Swimming has not laid out a plan for qualifications between now and next June. There has been discussion of a potentially faster set of qualifications, and a potential date range associated with those faster quals, but nothing formal has been determined. There is also a chance that the length and severity of training loss and meet restriction may be enough of barrier to new qualifiers, that they do not need to take action because there will simply not be an overwhelming number of new qualifiers. Everything TBD

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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