What is a Heat Sheet?

A Heat Sheet is a program that shows all participating swimmers and the events they will participate in as well as the heat number and lane number. The announcer will say the event and heat number and there is also an electronic board with this information.

Why is it called a “Prelim Heat Sheet”?

Changes to the Prelim Heat Sheet will be made the morning of the meet based on swimmers who don't arrive on time or do not attend. We may also "combine" races to speed up the meet. For example, if we have 3 girls swimming Fly in the 15-17 age group and 3 boys -- we may combine them into one heat to save time. The announcer will say if it is a combined heat.

Event Number: There are 87 events in each meet.

Heat Number: Within each event there are heats. Each heat can have up to 6-8 swimmers - depending on the size of the pool.

Lane Number: This will tell you which lane your swimmer is scheduled to be in.

Seed Time: Once a swimmer participates legally in an event, they will have a "seed time”. Swimmers are placed in heats and relays according to their seed times*. The home team is assigned to 3 lanes & the visiting team is assigned to 3 lanes* creating a mix of both teams. 

*There are exceptions to these rules.

Seed Time: The swimmer's fastest time prior to this meet.

Finals Time: The time they swam at this meet

Invitationals: The NWSC has an Invitational Meet at the end of the season for swimmers who are able to meet the time standards.

Points: Points are awarded to the team for swimmers placing 1-8 in individual meets and 1-2 in relays. A winner is determined at the end of each meet.

Updated: 2024