The letters refer to the various time standards established by Minnesota Swimming, Inc. Swimmers must achieve these standards in order to qualify for Finals and State Championship meets. Standards vary by age and gender and are listed in various tables (click HERE to visit the MSI Time Standards webpage).
As in any sport, the goal of competition is to do your very best—getting the most goals in hockey, or swimming the fastest time. The most important competition is when you strive to improve yourself—to beat your own best time. The time standards are simply one way that you and your coach can use to measure your progress
New swimmers will often enter an event with no time at all. The letters NT will appear in the program, or, if possible, the coach will submit a “seed” time that is representative of that swimmer’s ability. The seed time is that by which meet officials rank swimmers in the order that they’ll swim. Swimmers without qualifying times, or whose times are slower than the C standard, may compete in any Open meet and at a special finals meet at the end of the season.
C-times are the slowest qualifying times. Swimmers who qualify in an event with a C time may compete in that event at any Open meet and in the C-Finals at the end of the season.
B times are a bit faster. Swimmers who qualify in an event with an B time may compete in Open meets in which those times are allowed. There are separate B and slower meets in which swimmers with A times are not entered. Of course, even if you have an A-time in one event, you may have a B or slower time in another event, so you can still participate in many events at any one meet. There is also a special finals meet at the end of the season.
If you earn a Champ time in any event, you are eligible to swim that event at the State Championship meet at the end of the season. Of course, you may not be able to participate in that event at other meets during the season (where entries are limited to A, B, or slower times) but your coach may elect to enter you into longer distances of your championship stroke so you can continue to practice and compete throughout the season.
A Zone time earns you a place on Team Minnesota. The Zone Meet is held somewhere in the Midwest Region at the end of the Long-Course Summer Season.
Once you earn a qualifying time in a particular event, you are able to keep that time for up to a year. Of course, the goal is to continue to improve, so perhaps you’ll beat that time in your next competition.
