Hello Stingrays!

As many of you know, each year the Stingrays participate in two end-of-season meets. They are the Tri-County Conference Championship (Conference) and the Tri-County Invitational (the Invite). I know many of you are familiar with these events, but for the sake of clarity, I want to provide you with information about each meet.

Tri-County Conference Championship (July 25^th & 26^th):

This is a two day championship meet in which each conference team may enter only three boys and three girls into each individual event per age group. This means that many swimmers on our team will not have the opportunity to swim individual events at this competition. Decisions about entries for the championship meet are made by each age-group coach. Factors included in the decision-making process include race times, practice participation (in terms of both quality and quantity), and meet attendance (participate in at least 3 meets).

Relays for the championship meet occur on the second day of this meet (7/26) and will include swimmers from our team who have declared for the meet even if they are not swimming individual events at the meet.

Tri-County Invitational (July 21^st):

This meet is an end-of-season competition for swimmers who are not entered into individual events at the conference championship meet. This year, the Invite is occurring on Tuesday, July 21^st at the Sun Prairie Pool. For this meet, each swimmer can choose their own events (up to 3 individual entries). Coaches will be asking swimmers for their event preferences over the next week or so, so be talking with your swimmer(s) about what they want to swim.

Declaration Deadlines:

The declaration deadline for both meets is this Sunday, 7/12. This deadline is earlier relative to the date of the meets than is typical. This is to ensure that the coaches have enough time to plan lineups for both meets. If you declare for one of these meets, it is crucial you are able to attend (barring an emergency).

Volunteer Requirement:

Both meets require volunteers from all participating teams in order to run smoothly. This year, the volunteer deadline for Conference is Sunday, 7/12 (Here) and the volunteer deadline for the Invite is Sunday, 7/19 (Here). Please volunteer for a shift at one of these two meets.

Hard Decisions:

Please know that the other coaches and I work hard to make the best decisions possible about our end-of-the-season lineups based on what we feel is best for the team. We understand that some swimmers may feel disappointed if not entered into individual conference events. Both season ending meets are important to us as coaches and we celebrate the accomplishments of all the swimmers on our team equally regardless of the meet they participate in at the end of the season. If you have concerns or questions about these meets generally or our decisions related to them, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Go Sting!

Dave and the Coaches