Challenge Meets are competitions hosted on a rotating basis by teams affiliated with the Pacific Northwest Swimming organization. They are designed to support a wide range of swimming abilities and comprise the majority of the meets our young IST swimmers participate in.

Swimmers at Challenge Meets are awarded placings, points and ribbons based on 2 factors.

1) Their race time in an event
2) Their entry (or "seed") time (Gold, Silver or Bronze)

How it works:

• Teams send in their entry forms listing each swimmer and which events they will be swimming. This list includes the swimmer's "best time to date" for each entered event.
  
• The host team assigns the swimmers into "heats" based on their "best time". If a swimmer has not competed in that event, NT or 'No Time' is listed.

Example:

Entries for the event Girls 10 & under 50 Freestyle (fastest to slowest)

Fastest - Will compete last -Heat 3
Girl A - 31.0
Girl B - 32.1
Girl C - 33.5
Girl D - 34.0
Girl E - 35.3
Girl F - 36.1

Will compete in Heat 2
Girl G - 37.0
Girl H - 38.8
Girl I - 41.2
Girl J - 42.6
Girl K - 45.2
Girl L - 52.4

Will compete in Heat 1
Girl M - 1:00.2
Girl N - 1:06.4
Girl O - 1:10.3
Girl P - NT
Girl Q - NT

• Each event has a "Time Standard" to classify whether a swimmer is a GOLD, SILVER or BRONZE competitor. All 3 classifications will race in the same event, but will be ranked as if they were swimming in 3 separate meets: Gold against Gold, Silver against Silver and Bronze against Bronze.

In our Example: Girls 9-10 50 Freestyle

GOLD time is 35.99 or faster (Girls A-E have qualified with a GOLD time and will be competing against each other for the Gold placings)
SILVER time is 41.19 through 35.98 (girls F-H have qualified with a SILVER time)
BRONZE time is 41.18 or slower (girls I-Q are qualified with a BRONZE time)

Note: Multiple age groups may be combined in the races, but again, are ranked as if they were swimming separately. This most commonly occurs when 8 and Unders are combined with 9-10 swimmers on 50s and 100s and when 9-10 are mixed with 11-12 for long distance races.

• Finally, the swimmers will be assigned lanes in their heats. Lanes are assigned from the center of the pool, so the swimmer with the fastest entry time is placed in lane 3 when swimming in a 6 lane pool. The "heat sheet" will list which group each swimmer is assigned to and what division (Gold, Silver or Bronze) each swimmer is in.
  

The heat sheet for the swimmers in our example might look like:

Heat 1
1 Girl Q - NT
2 Girl O - 1:10.3
3 Girl M - 1:00.2
4 Girl N - 1:06.4
5 Girl P - NT

Heat 2
1 Girl K - 45.2
2 Girl I - 41.2
3 Girl G - 37.0 SILVER
4 Girl H - 38.8 SILVER
5 Girl J - 42.6
6 Girl L - 52.4

Heat 3
1 Girl E - 35.3 GOLD
2 Girl C - 33.5 GOLD
3 Girl A - 31.0 GOLD
4 Girl B - 32.1 GOLD
5 Girl D - 34.0 GOLD
6 Girl F - 36.1 SILVER

Remember, even though the swimmers are racing together, their awards are based on their entry (or seed) time and event entry.

• After the race is over, placings are assigned based on the results of the race and divisions.

Example:

Gold Division (final time and placing)
Girl A - 31.0 (31.1 = 2nd GOLD)
Girl B - 32.1 (31.0 = 1st GOLD)
Girl C - 33.5 (33.4 = 3rd GOLD)
Girl D - 34.0 (34.2 = 4th GOLD)
Girl E - 35.3 (36.0 = 5th GOLD) * note that this is still a gold placing even though the swimmer only reached a silver time in this race.

Silver Division
Girl F - 36.1 (35.8 = 1st SILVER)* note that this is still a SILVER placing even though the swimmer reached a GOLD time in this race and swam faster than the slowest GOLD place swimmer. Placing is still by "seed" time. This swimmer can race in the GOLD group at the next challenge meet.
Girl G - 37.0 (36.9 = 2nd SILVER)
Girl H - 38.8 (40.1 = 3rd SILVER)


Bronze Division
Girl I - 41.2 (42.2 = 3rd BRONZE
Girl J - 42.6 (38.3 = 2nd BRONZE) - will race SILVER next time
Girl K - 45.2 (42.3 = 4th BRONZE
Girl L - 52.4 (50.0 = 5th BRONZE)
Girl M - 1:00.2 (58.3 - no award)
Girl N - 1:06.4 (Swam 1:02.1 but was Disqualified - no award nor time)*
Girl O - 1:10.3 (1:04.1 - no award)
Girl P - NT (35.5 = 1st BRONZE) - will race GOLD next time
Girl Q - NT (55.1 = 6th BRONZE)

If a child is Disqualified, their time is not recorded, and their prior best time remains on record for future meets.