Gators Championship Meet Descriptions
All levels of Gator swimmers are eligible to attend a championship meet; from our beginner level swimmers to our fastest older swimmers. The great thing about the championship meets are that swimmers are competing against athletes that are at the same level as themselves. Swimmers get excited about competing at these meets as a team. They feel accomplished at each level of championship meet and are motivated to qualify for the next level of championship meet.
The District Championship Meet is the first level of the Michigan Swimming Championship Meets. Any of our Gator swimmers can compete in this meet if they do not have a Junior Olympics (JO) Q2 qualifying time or higher in the events they are swimming. There are not any qualifying times for this meet. Swimmers can compete in multiple championship meets throughout the season. For example, if in half of your events you do not have JO cuts, you can swim those events at the District meet. You can then swim the events you have JO qualifying times for at the Junior Olympics meet. Swimmers can qualify for the Junior Olympics meet at the District meet.
The Junior Olympics (JO) Championship Meet is the second level of the Michigan Swimming Championship Meets. Swimmers must have achieved the Junior Olympics (Q2) time standards to compete in events in this meet. You may only compete in events that you have achieved a JO qualifying time. If swimmers have a State Championship Meet qualifying time (Q1) in any event, they are not allowed to swim that event at the JO meet. Swimmers can qualify for the State Championship meet at the JO meet.
The State Championship Meet is the third Michigan Swimming Championship meet. Swimmers must have a state qualifying time (Q1) or faster to compete at the State Meet. There is not a slower than time cutoff. Swimmers can qualify for higher level meets at the State Championship Meet. The State Championship Meet is broken up into two meets, one for 12 & Unders and one for 13 & Up.
There are more qualifying meets after the State Meet. The next qualifying meet for age group swimmers is the Central Zone Championship meet. Only 14 & under swimmers compete at this meet. This meet occurs at the end of the summer session. It is a regional championship meet that swimmers compete in as a part of Team Michigan. Coach Tony coached for the team for 3 years and Coach Stacy coached for the team last year.
The 14 & Under (NCSA or ISCA) Age Group Championship Meet is a great meet for 14 and Under swimmers to gain experience at even bigger travel Prelim/Final meets. This meet has qualifying times for each age within an age group. For example, in the 11-12 age group there are separate time standards for 11 and 12-year-old swimmers. Teams from anywhere in the US are eligible to swim in this meet.
Championship meets after these meets are open to all ages and are “one qualifying time” meets. That means that swimmers of any age can compete at these meets if they meet the qualifying time standard(s) for an event(s). The first level of the one qualifying time for all ages meets is the Central Zone Sectional Championship Meet. It is a regional meet that is a level above the 14 & Under Zone Championship Meet.
The following meets are all national meets and are listed in order of time standards from slowest to fastest. The Junior National Championship Meets (NCSA or ISCA) in March and August, The Speedo Junior National Championship Meet, Speedo Senior National Championship Meet (both in December), and Olympic Trials (on Summer Olympic years) are the main national meets. There are other national meets that swimmers may qualify for or may be chosen to compete in.
You can find qualifying times at https://www.teamunify.com/SubTabGeneric.jsp?team=milsc&_stabid_=162570 or in the specific meet information on our website.
