Monday’s Home Intrasquad Meet:

We will be having an intrasquad meet this Monday at the Lake Forest Lodge Pool. This means we will only be swimming against ourselves and not against another team. Monday is technically a bye week after one of the division 2 teams unexpectedly dropped out of LSA this year. But because the season is already so short, we want to offer our swimmers the opportunity to swim for times under meet conditions. The times from our intrasquad meet WILL count towards qual times. The meet will be run like a normal dual meet. Lake Forest will just have all 6 lanes so more kids can swim more races. See explanation of qual times below.

We are going to take the opportunity to celebrate our team and have some great team bonding! We are going to have music, food, fun and more opportunities to swim more races than usual. Our sponsor, John Schmidt of Kentucky Farm Bureau, will be cooking hot dogs and hamburgers for the team. Our concession stand will be selling drinks, chips, candy, and snacks. Sponsor Sunset Slush will be selling yummy slushes. We will take cash at the concession stand and will do a practice run on a new credit card reader for the concession stand.

We will send out the heat sheet on Monday. Please print and bring the heat sheet for your use and write your swimmers’ events on their arm before you come to the meet as usual.

Because there will only be our team (half the normal amount of people of a dual meet), we are asking all swimmers have arrived at the Lodge Pool and be checked in at the age group tents at 5:15. Lake Forest warm ups will start at 5:30. Age Group parents should check in at the Volunteer Table at 5:00 to get clipboards and set up. All other volunteers should check in by 5:30. There will be a timers and stroke and turn judge meeting at 5:30 just like a normal meet.

We hope everyone will have fun on Monday and get some great times towards Quals.

EVERYONE’S GOAL IS TO GET QUAL TIMES:

It is great to finish in the top 6 at a dual meet and earn a ribbon, but more important is for your swimmer to get a time in each event that beats the Division 2 Qualifying Time (“qual time”) for that event so that the swimmer can swim the event at the Qualifications Meet the last week of the season. The top 12 swimmers at the Qualifications Meet in each event move onto Championships for that event (plus 2 alternates). So getting a qual time during the season is the first step!

To see if your swimmer got a qual time, look at is your swimmer's time in each event from a meet during the season and compare it with the Division 2 Qual times for the age group and gender. In order to swim a particular event at the Qualifications Meet the week of Championships, a swimmer must beat the Division 2 Qual time for that event in a dual meet during the season. That should be every swimmer's goal. They will get several chances to try to get that Qual time as the season progresses, but only have to do it once to get to Quals. And when they get that Qual time, it is a win for that swimmer, even if they didn't place in the ribbons!

I am attaching the Division 2 Qual times. They are unchanged for this season. Please compare your swimmer's time to see how far off they are. And encourage your swimmer to get a little closer to that Qual time for each event at each meet.

A Word About Disqualifications (“DQ”):

If your swimmer was DQed (or got disqualified in an event) it means they did not swim the stroke technically correct or did a false start. This is not necessarily a bad thing. This is a learning opportunity. The results actually tell us why each swimmer was DQed. Coaches can look at the DQs and address common issues at practice. Feel free to ask the coaches (when they are not busy coaching) about any DQs and what can be done to fix the problem. Coaches are available to hire to do a private lesson to really work on any problem areas on a one-on-one basis. Just contact the coach you want to schedule a lesson with. If your swimmer is upset about the DQ, take them to Dairy Queen! It is not a big deal. Just a signal of what they need to work on.