How do you qualify for the Northeast Ohio YMCA League Championship?
First it is important to understand that our League is made up of 21 teams, these teams are broken up into 3 divisions. Each of the 3 divisions holds a Divisional Championship meet the first weekend in February. These meets, and only these meets, determine who qualifies for the League Championship meet which is held the first weekend of March. There every team in the League that has a qualified swimmers will compete. If you do not compete in your Divisional Championship, you cannot qualify for the League meet.
12 & Under Qualification Process:
The top 3 swimmers and relays in each event at each of the 3 Divisional Meets automatically qualify for League Championships. League officials will then combine the results from all 3 divisional championship meets, and from that list of combined results the next 21 fastest swimmers or relays in each event qualify for Leagues. This gives us the 30 swimmers from each event who will compete at League Championships.
13 & Over Qualification Process:
The top 2 swimmers or relays in each event at each Divisional Meet automatically qualify for League Championships. They will then combine the results from all 3 divisional championship meets, and from that list of combined results the next 14 fastest swimmers or relays qualify for Leagues. This gives us the 20 swimmers from each event who will compete at League Championships.
Relay Qualification:
Relay qualification is the same as explained above. It is important to understand though that the relay, not the swimmers on the relay, qualifies for Leagues. This means for example that if the CFYN A 200 Freestyle Relay composed of Susie, Amy, Donna, and Mary places high enough at the divisional meet to qualify for Leagues, that does not necessarily mean Susie, Amy, Donna, and Mary will get to swim on the A Freestyle Relay at Leagues, it only means that the CFYN Team will have a relay called “A” in that event. Coaches are free to select whoever they want to swim in the relay at Leagues, this may even include swimmers who were on a disqualified relay at their divisional meet, or even someone who swam in no relays at all at Divisionals. The only requirement is that the swimmer must have competed in an event (any event) at their Divisional meet. Each team/coach may have a different policy on how they handle relay selections for their team.
