We’ve had a few questions about how Divisionals works, so here is our annual deep-dive explanation.

What is Divisionals? Divisionals is the individual culmination of the summer swim season. While we swim as a team, there are no team points tracked here—it is an individual event. The results of Divisionals determine who qualifies for Individual All-Stars the following weekend (the top 18 times across the entire NVSL move on).

The Quick Logistics

• When: Saturday, July 25th
• Where: Sideburn Run
• Time: Warm-ups start around 6:30 AM; the meet starts at 8:00 AM and usually wraps up around 1:00 PM. There will be warm-ups in between Fly and IM
• Order of Events: Back, Breast, Fly, BREAK IM and Free (Note: There is a break between Fly and IM to switch out officials and volunteers).
• The Format: There are two heats for each event.

How Entries & Seeding Work (The NVSL Rules)

Each team gets two firm entries in each event, and swimmers can swim a maximum of two events.

During the division seeding meeting, any empty lanes in the division are filled using "bids" with the next fastest available swimmers from any team in our division.

• Alternates: Our entry submission (will be sent to the Division Data Coordinator on Tuesday, July 21st) this will include our two firm entries plus two alternates for each event. Alternates must be both available and interested in swimming that event.
• No Swim-Ups: Swimmers must compete in their actual age groups.

📋 What We Need From You (Action Items!)

To get our entries set, we need to gather availability and stroke preferences from every single swimmer.

1. In-Practice Stroke Preferences: Monday, July 20th

During practice on Monday, July 20th, swimmers will fill out a paper form with Kerri and Coach Anise listing the strokes they would or could swim in order of preference (Free, Back, Breast, Fly, IM).

• The Ladder: We will have the divisional times ladders printed out so swimmers can see where they stand and make the best strategic choices.
• Rule of Thumb: Only list strokes your swimmer can legally swim and has an official, legal time for.
• Missed Practice? If your swimmer isn't at practice on Monday morning, you must email their preferences to Avi by 5:00 PM on Monday, July 20th. [email protected]

2. SwimTopia Declaration

Your swimmer must be declared as AVAILABLE for the Divisionals meet on SwimTopia. Even if they write their choices on the paper form, we cannot seed them if they are marked unavailable or left undeclared online.

⚠️ The "Tough Love" Rep Rules

Because this is an individual event and not a team-points event, the administrative burden is entirely on families to opt-in.

• No Individual Track-Downs: We will send out general team reminders, but we will not be calling, texting, or tracking down individual families to ask for preferences or SwimTopia declarations. If a swimmer's info isn't in by the deadline, they simply won't be entered, and the next swimmer on the ladder will take the spot.
• No A-Meet Style Reminders: We won't send individual "Are you coming?" nudges like we do for Saturday A-meets.

Set a reminder on your phone, write it on your hand, or just go into SwimTopia right now and mark your availability!

Questions?

If you are confused about how the ladder, preferences, or bidding works, please reach out to Avi at [email protected] and he'll gladly walk you through it!