Barton Creek West Barracudas

We strictly enforce an entry deadline for swim meets because it takes real time and effort to coordinate with the other team and build the meet — even more so since we're all volunteers!

That said, if your plans change, tell us as soon as possible so we can update the meet files. It's still work on our part, but far easier before meet day than on the pool deck — it means no age group parent is hunting for a missing swimmer, and the ready bench isn't holding up the meet. (This is not a free pass for poor planning. 🙂)

Scratches — dropping from the meet — can be submitted any time after entries close, right up until the swimmer's actual event. Kids get sick, things come up — if you know your swimmer isn't coming, please email [email protected] right away; on meet day, also let your age group parent know when you can. Individual events are easy: even without a scratch, a swimmer who misses one is simply marked NS (No Swim) in the results and the heat goes on — though a heads-up spares your age group parent from hunting for them. Relays are different — a missing swimmer with no backup can force us to scratch the entire relay, which means three disappointed teammates. If you're in doubt about making it, please opt out of relays; it saves everyone time and frustration.

Deck Entries — adding to the meet — are possible in very limited cases for swimmers who didn't sign up: there must be an open lane in the desired event on the heat sheet, and the other team must not have already claimed it. We can accept deck entries up until 30 minutes before the meet starts.

Meet results are published in real time through the free SwimTopia app — download it for your smartphone, find the BCW Barracudas, and see results as soon as they're entered into the computer system. This is the fastest and most reliable way to follow the meet.

At some home meets, the Computers Team may also post paper results on the Barracuda display case near the bath house entrance, but the app is the primary source and paper copies are being phased out.

Note: Official meet results are not posted until shortly after the meet concludes, and may differ from results seen during the meet — usually due to disqualifications. If we're unable to publish through the app for any reason, official results will always be available on our website after the meet.

We carry over seed times (previous swim times) from last year and use them for the first few meets. Seed times let us place swimmers of similar ability in the same heat, which makes for a faster meet and encourages swimmers to rise to the level of their competition. Once a significant number of swimmers establish times for the current year, we drop last year's times.

Two meets work differently when it comes to seed times:

• Intrasquad — The intrasquad meet is our practice meet, and it is not sanctioned — there's no opposing team to witness that we followed all the proper processes, so times from it don't count for All-Star consideration or Champ Meet qualification. It's how we all remember how to run a swim meet for the new season, and it gives new swimmers seed times so the larger meets against other teams run faster. And yes — we found a stash of ribbons, so there will be ribbons!
• Champ Meet — The Championship medal meet is one of the most fun of the season: swimmers earn medals instead of ribbons to reward their progress. To swim an event at Champ Meet, a swimmer must meet both requirements:
  • An existing time in that event, from this year, recorded at a sanctioned meet (intrasquad times do not count), and
  • Participation ("splashing") in at least two regular season meets.

  Plan ahead: if your swimmer wants to try all the strokes this year, they need to swim them in regular season meets before Champ Meet — there's no way to add an event at the end without a qualifying time.

The All Star Times are AHSL's league-wide standard of excellence — the cutoff a swimmer has to break to land in roughly the top 15–20% of the league in their age group and event.

The current time standards are published on the league website: AHSL Time Standards.

The Barracudas celebrate the accomplishment: the first time a swimmer breaks an All Star Time in a regular season meet each season, they earn a rainbow ribbon. 🌈

Why are times different between meets?

These days, the short answer is: they aren't! Currently, all pools in our league are SCY (Short Course Yards — 25-yard pools), the same as the Barton Creek West pool, so times are directly comparable from meet to meet.

But it's worth knowing that competitive swimming has three courses, based on pool length:

• SCY — Short Course Yards (25-yard pool)
• SCM — Short Course Meters (25-meter pool)
• LCM — Long Course Meters (50-meter pool)

When meets happen in different courses — common in club and high school swimming — timing systems automatically convert times between pool lengths so swimmers can be seeded fairly, and converted times are usually marked with a *. If your swimmer continues in the sport beyond summer league, they'll run into this quickly!