USA Swimming is considering adding spring championship meets for juniors in 2024.
With the COVID-19 pandemic canceling most competitions in 2020, USA Swimming introduced the 18 & under Spring Cup in late April of 2021 with the goal of offering more long-course racing opportunities ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. The meet was held at four sites in Des Moines, Iowa, Richmond, Va., Orlando, Fla., and Irvine, Calif., combining to produce 87 new Olympic Trials cuts.
USA Swimming told SwimSwam that it “remains interested” in hosting the 18 & under Spring Cup again in 2024, but it will depend on the need for more long-course racing next spring.
“Coming out of COVID-19, the Senior Development committee felt that there was a need for more long course opportunities in 2021 and asked for an investment in more meets,” a USA Swimming spokesperson said. “We remain interested in hosting these meets in 2024 to provide more long course racing opportunities for athletes at the Futures level. The committee will monitor the need based on existing and new meet offerings around the country and make the decision as we head into 2024.”
USA Swimming already hosts meets designated for juniors both in early December (yards) and at the end of the summer (long course meters). The National Club Swimming Association (NCSA) is slated to host its spring championship meet in March of 2024, but those races are in yards.
ISCA is hosting a 5 day championship meet in St. Petersburg, FL that’s going to be a hybrid short course prelims and long course finals.
They host it every year, and it’s usually full. The pool is way too shallow for hosting high level meets. Check out the scrapes on the backstrokers.
March 2024 NCSA will likely be Short Course Prelims / Long Course Finals (as it was in 04, 08, 12, 16)
Worst format ever.
NCSA has qualifying times, but there’s a lot of teams that don’t get in because the meet is too full. Have actual Junior Cuts to qualify.
Rumor is they’re moving Meet from Orlando. Does anyone know if it’s true and if yes, where
Maybe USA Swimming should create a SCM championship in spring.
I feel like this would take away from a lot of teams. My team always does travel stuff to sectionals, and if only some went to each meet, then neither of them would be as fun, just me tho
I don’t understand why Sectionals isn’t more utilized in some areas of the country. I grew up swimming in the Midwest, and it was a big deal. There were strong rivalries between teams and it was the big taper meet of the season for everyone in our top senior level group. The select few went on to juniors or nationals, but sectionals was the team event. It was great having sectionals though because we would have 40+ kids competing. The atmosphere was fantastic. I now live on the east coast and no one seems to care about sectionals.
Do It!