The page presents information about the achieving distinction in high school swim and dive. For additional information on the championship meets you should also visit the page About High School Swim.
For swimmers, the obvious answer to how to qualify for these big meets is train hard year round and drop your times.
The championship meets start with Districts. The top four Robinson swimmers in each event and the top relay team are selected by the coach to participate in Districts. Keep in mind that each swimmer can only participate in four events, only two of which can be individual events. Thus, in reality, swimmer number five or six in an event may get to swim in districts if those with faster times swim other events. Only the A Relay team in each relay event competes in districts.
Relay teams are selected at the discretion of the coach with the goal of putting together the most competitive relay teams and taking maximum points at the championship meets. Good relay starts and the ability to function as a member of a relay team are important considerations along with times. Strong relay teams are critical to success at the championship meets. The points awarded to relay events are double those assigned to individual events.
Advancing from Districts to Regions
There are two ways to advance from Districts to Regions:
- Be among the top six swimmers/relays at the end of the Finals Heat (not the Consolation Finals heat) or
- Swim a Region time standard in any of the season’s dual meets or in any of the heats at Districts.
So if you finish in the Consolation Finals at Districts, go for a Region time standard.
Advancing from Regions to States
There are also two ways to advance from Regions to States:
- Make the Finals heat (not the Consolations Finals heat) at Regions thus finishing as one of the top eight swimmers/relays in Regions, or
- Swim a State standard time in any of the season’s dual meets or any of the heats at Districts or Regions.
As an aside, a swimmer does not have to swim the same events at Districts, Regions, and States. Within the limit of the number of events an individual may swim at a VHSL meet, swimmers can choose between any of the events they have qualifying times for in Regions or States. In an attempt to achieve the highest placement in each of their events, swimmers, in consultation with their coach, sometimes switch events after Districts or Regions depending on competitors’ times.
What Else Can Swimmers/Divers Achieve?
In addition to making the biggest meets of the year, competitors can be selected for special recognition as All District (first or second team), All Region (first or second team), All Met (first team, second team, or honorable mention), or All American. Coach Blaine also hands out several awards at the Winter Sports Banquet.
For All District and All Region, the gold medallist (1st place) in each event is selected for first team; the silver medallist (2nd place) in each event is selected for the second team. Competitors selected for All District and All Region receive commemorative certificates in the packets handed out at the end of the season.
All Met is an honor awarded by the Washington Post and includes competitors from the entire Metropolitan Washington area —from both public and private schools and all three regional jurisdictions. For Virginia public school students, selection is based on performance at States. Unlike All District and All Region, All Met first team, second team, and honorable mention are not selected by event. They are selected by level of achievement in States or Metros. Making All Met First Team for a Robinson swimmer would typically require winning first place in States and also medalling in a second event. You will not see a swimmer from each event on each team, and in fact, a team may contain competitors who have excelled in the same events and have no swimmers in other events. For a link to the All Met list (for all sports for all years) visit the Washington Post web site at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/sports/highschools/sports/20002001/allmets/
Click
here for a listing or Robinson Swim & Dive
All Met team members for 2002-2003.
All American status is determined through NISCA, the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association. Swimmers who swam either an All American Automatic or All American Consideration time are entered in the NISCA database. After the final school district completes its high school swim season, the top 100 competitors for each event — including relays — are awarded All American status. Those who swam an All American Automatic time are guaranteed to be included. The All American Automatic cuts are selected to be about the 50th fastest time swum in recent years. All swimmers who have achieved one of the top 100 times in an event receive an All America Swimming certificate in the mail, typically in late July or early August. All members of a relay team receiving All American status receive a certificate. In addition to the certificates received in the mail, swimmers can buy patches and other commemorative items through NISCA. For more information, visit the NISCA web site at www.nisca.net. A link to the list of All Americans for recent years is provided on the NISCA home page.
Visit the Standards
& Records page to see
All-American time standards for 2003-2004.
Click here for a listing
of Robinson Swim & Dive
All Americans — individuals and relays.
In addition, swimmers may receive several other awards in their packets at the Winter Sports Banquet. All members of the Robinson Swim & Dive Team receive a team participation award. Team letters or bars for successive lettering years are also presented at this time along with certificates for scholar athletes, All District team, All Region team, participating in States, All-American Automatic or Consideration, and for team records set. In addition, the coach also gives some special awards each year, which may include sportsmanship, most improved, and MVP, among others.
Letter Jackets
For those interested in ordering a letter jacket you’ll want to check around for price and look for discount coupons. In addition, there are many options to choose from – including leather sleeves, collar style, button colors, placement of school identification, thickness of lining for warmth, etc. You may want to look at teammates’ jackets before heading off to order yours. Most team members place District Champ patches on the sleeves and Region and State Champ patches on the back. Most have Robinson spelled out in script on the back and the swimmer’s/diver’s first name and graduation year on the front. There are many alternatives, however, and it's purely a matter of personal preference.
Two local merchants you may want to contact are:
Burke Sporting Goods, 5765E Burke Centre Parkway Burke, VA 22015, 703-239-9000.
University Rho & Swim in University Mall at the corner of 123 and Braddock Road, 703-278-8202.
Your Swimming Resume
If you are considering swimming/diving in college, high school swim achievements do count. Achieving any of the distinctions mentioned on this page is a nice addition to your swimming resume.
