Despite the heat, it was a great meet last night! Huntington Hills gave us the best competition we've had all season. We won the meet 432 to 397. Our swimmers had 84 improved times and we also had many swimmers get to swim on relays for the first time! 

New Record -  9-10 boys freestyle relay (Henry Pratt, Joey Smith, Gavin Samad, Yaseer Owens) with a time of 1:13.05. 

I have reached out to HHF regarding event 73. Because our league does not use touchpads, close races unfortunately come down to the reaction time of our timers. Per TCAL rules, electronic timing systems serve as the primary official time, and video evidence cannot be used to overturn or dictate the outcome of a race. This underscores how important it is for timers to remain fully focused and stop the watch at the exact moment the swimmer touches the wall. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time we've seen a race outcome impacted by a timing discrepancy. 

Next Meet - Our last regular meet of the season is at Pataskala on July 11. I will send meet details when I receive them. Please declare your swimmer ASAP so coaches can start working on entries. If your swimmer is trying to get a time for Champs, please make a note of that when you declare. 

Championship Meet - I'm starting to get some questions about Champs. First, any swimmer who has swam in at least 3 TCAL meets are eligible to participate in Champs. We want every swimmer eligible to participate! There are no time standards. The meet is seeded just like regular meets where swimmers are competing in heats with other swimmers with similar times. 

If your swimmer has already participated in 3 meets, please mark their participation in Champs now. This will help us get a head start on entries. Swimtopia does not allow families to declare attendance until participation in the 3rd meet. Please make a note in Swimtopia with the events your child would like to swim. Swimmers may swim in two individual events. Coaches will honor at least one of your swimmer's chosen events. When making decisions about individual events and relay events, coaches look at the big picture and try to find areas not only where our swimmers excel, but also where the team can best earn points. Per TCAL by-laws, swimmers must have a legal time in the event from this season in order to swim the event in the championship meet. 

There will be a lot more info coming out about Champs in the next week, but for now, the most important thing to do is declare attendance and make a note of preferred events. . 

We are still in desperate need of volunteers for the 10 & under session of Champs. Just a reminder that the volunteer acknowledgment at registration states that swimmers whose families who do not fulfill their volunteer obligation will not be permitted to swim at Champs, register for next season, and will be charged the $200 volunteer fee. We really appreciate our volunteers who go above & beyond to help out. Our 11 & up session has all volunteers required...thank you!

Reminder - there is no PM practice tomorrow, July 3, due to Independence Day festivities.