Time Standards 101

➧ How Time Standards Are Used

There are 2 basic functions for Time Standards:

1. Set a qualifying time (or range) that allows an athlete to enter a meet
2. Measure when athletes achieve a qualifying time

These Time Standard Sets include custom labels designating fastest to slowest times, which are specific to each meet governed by these time standards, or "cuts" as they are commonly referred to.

We provide support to manage your Time Standard Sets in short course yards (Y), short course meters (S), and long course meters (L) as needed.

» Tip: To set up a Time Standard in long course meters, you will first need to check the box to "Enable reporting options for Long Course Meters (50m pool length)" under your Settings > Team Information, if not enabled already.

➧ Correlation between Qualification Times and Time Standards

Time Standards are typically used as a reference for meet qualification times, and thus the term “time standard” is frequently used interchangeably with “qualification time” for a specific meet or event, even though technically the two concepts are distinct. The main point to note: meets can have qualification times, and time standards exist independently of meets.

A meet might use one designator as the “faster than” qualification time and another designator as the “slower than” time -- for example a “B” meet might require a time equal to or faster than the “B” designator, and disallow entries faster than the “A” designator representing the “slower than” qualification times.

Individual swim meets can have a “faster than or equal to” qualification time or maximum time allowed to be eligible to enter an event. Additionally, some meets also have a “slower than” time for each event, meaning that an athlete is excluded from entering the event if they have achieved a time faster than the specified time.

➧ Multi-Cut Meets

Time Standards in SwimTopia and Meet Maestro

➧ Qualifying Times and Time Standards Support

Time Standard Sets (Schedule > Time Standards) are independent from Meet Templates and Swim Meets and can be applied to multiple meets or meet templates. They include the following features:

• Support for multiple courses
• Customized qualification levels
• Entry rules configuration options
• Shared Time Standard Sets, for leagues that are also using SwimTopia
• Time Standard achievement tracking, for teams running meets in Meet Maestro

Teams can enter Qualifying Times directly in a Meet Template,

directly in a Meet,

or create Time Standard Sets to be applied easily to meet templates and meets each season (or use those shared by the League, if applicable).

» Note: Time Standards can be created from an existing meet by saving the meet events and qualification times as a Time Standard Set. ➞ See the Time Standards: Team Setup and Management

➧ Adding Qualifying Times to your Meet Template or Meet

Although we suggest taking advantage of the Time Standards feature to store your Qualifying Times for each applicable meet, or utilize any league Shared Time Standard Sets, teams can enter the applicable qualifying times directly within Meet Templates or Swim Meets. 

➞ See the Qualifying Times article for details. 

» Note:  In the article above, we cover how to save your Qualifying Times as Time Standard Sets to expedite meet setup in future seasons.

➧ Leagues: Shared Time Standard Sets (For League Admin)

Leagues can set up Shared Time Standard Sets, apply them to Shared Meet Templates and push them down to all of the league’s SwimTopia teams. This is helpful and ensures accuracy for league-wide meets, such as championship meets and invitationals.

➞ See the League Shared Time Standards Sets article for step-by-step instructions.

➧ SwimTopia: Time Standards Setup, Management, and Reports

SwimTopia provides a user-friendly interface to create your own Time Standard Sets containing qualifying times designated per event, or use Time Standards shared by your league.

➞ See the Time Standards: Team Setup and Management article for step-by-step instructions.

➞ See the Time Standard Achievement and Qualifiers Reports article for details on available reports.

➧ Meet Maestro: Time Standards Display and Reporting

For teams using our meet management solution, Meet Maestro, you can further determine which Time Standard Sets you want to track during the meet, and display these standards on your Heat Sheets, Psych Sheets, and Results reports.

➞ See Meet Maestro Settings - Benchmarks (Records & Time Standards) to configure the Time Standards display on your merged meet in Meet Maestro. 

➞ See Meet Maestro - Time Entry Interface Overview to learn how these Time Standards will display in the meet. 

➞ See Meet Maestro Settings – Pre-Meet Reports and Meet Maestro Settings – Post-Meet Reports to learn how you can view achieved benchmarks in Meet Maestro reports.