Summer Swim Divisions
We participate in the Lancaster County Summer Swim League. For 2024, there are four divisions in the league; Manheim is participating in the GOLD Division.
Dual Meet vs. Invitational
A dual meet is between two teams in the Lancaster County Summer Swim League. A swimmer may swim up to 3 live events in a dual meet. There is one live heat and possibly multiple exhibition heats in each event. The live heat is the only heat where points can be scored for the team. No team points are awarded in exhibition heats. Coaches will select the events each swimmer swims.
An invitational is a larger meet with multiple teams. Swimmers may have input in what events they want to swim, although coaches will have the final say. Our team will participate is some away invitationals but we also host our own called the Fast and Furious Invitational. This will be held on Saturday, July 15th and is our largest fundraiser.
Dual Meet Scoring
Points are awarded in live heats only as follows.
Individual events
- 1st Place – 5 points
- 2nd Place – 3 points
- 3rd Place – 1 point
Relays
- 1st Place – 7 points
Invitational Information
Invitational meets can be lengthy – till noon or 1:00, and sometimes even longer. The unprepared parent may go into shock!
Parents usually bring lawn chairs and often bring coolers full of drinks, snack or lunch. Parents will sometimes bring books to read, needlepoint or other projects to work on between their swimmers events. The swimmers also bring things to do; a deck of cards, something to read, a board game etc. Don’t forget the sunscreen or sun block. Extra towels are a good idea too.
Invitational meets charge admission (except to swimmers) and charge for heat sheets. If you volunteer to work at a meet (assist with timing, etc.) most of the time you get in free.
Divisionals
There are 4 divisions in the Lancaster County Summer Swim League. Team records are kept for wins/losses during the dual meet regular season but no trophy is awarded to the regular season champion. Divisionals is basically “playoffs” at the end of the regular season. This is a large meet with all teams in each division. All swimmers qualify and team points are kept (scoring the same as a dual meet) and the winning team is awarded the Divisional Championship Trophy at the end of the meet. This is the culminating team meet at the end of the season and all swimmers are highly encouraged to attend. The more swimmers we have, the better chance we have to earn points and win.
Leagues
The final meet of the season. Friday night is relays, in which all swimmers can qualify and coaches set the relay teams. Saturday is the individual events and swimmers must have a qualifying time to participate. They can achieve a qualifying time at any meet during the season, including divisionals.
Qualifying Times
In order to participate in the League Championship, swimmers must meet certain qualifying times during the summer swim season.
Qualifying times for 2023 can be found here.