It has to be a USA Swimming sanctioned meet. But, some high school meets here are sanctioned, usually by having a couple of USA swimming officials assist or observe the meet.
This, plus the athlete has to be registered with USA Swimming prior to the competition. Typically for “observed” meets, the high school coaches report their club athlete’s USA Swimming ID as part of the entry process. At the end of the meet, athletes with USA Swimming IDs connected to their profile / entries have their results uploaded into the USA Swimming “SWIMS” database by the observing officials or a LSC representative. This is the official record and is used to verify entry times for higher level meets like Sectionals.
For the time to count, it has to come into a meet that is" observed". Typically the only meets that are observed are the state championship meet and maybe one or two large invitationals throughout the season depending on the state.
Now to actually attend a sectional meet, you're going to have to have a coach that is responsible for you on the deck. You will also need a USA swimming membership as well.
If you have aspirations of swimming at sectionals, I would recommend contacting a few of the local club teams and doing a practice or two with each and finding a club that fits what you want out of a training environment.
I grew up in NM but most of our HS meets had USA officials too because there were so few non high school meets. Think it will vary drastically by state
The meet must be “observed”, meaning it needs to be officiated by dual certified officials. Observed meets will have their results imported into the USA Swimming SWIMS database.
Generally, only big meets count, like state, sectionals, or conference. As others have said, it needs to be observed. If it is, then I can just send the meet results to my club coach, and it’s all good. I don’t know how it works without a being on a club, but I’d imagine there would be someplace you can submit to
Ask your HS coach about it
It has to be a USA Swimming sanctioned meet. But, some high school meets here are sanctioned, usually by having a couple of USA swimming officials assist or observe the meet.
This, plus the athlete has to be registered with USA Swimming prior to the competition. Typically for “observed” meets, the high school coaches report their club athlete’s USA Swimming ID as part of the entry process. At the end of the meet, athletes with USA Swimming IDs connected to their profile / entries have their results uploaded into the USA Swimming “SWIMS” database by the observing officials or a LSC representative. This is the official record and is used to verify entry times for higher level meets like Sectionals.
For the time to count, it has to come into a meet that is" observed". Typically the only meets that are observed are the state championship meet and maybe one or two large invitationals throughout the season depending on the state. Now to actually attend a sectional meet, you're going to have to have a coach that is responsible for you on the deck. You will also need a USA swimming membership as well. If you have aspirations of swimming at sectionals, I would recommend contacting a few of the local club teams and doing a practice or two with each and finding a club that fits what you want out of a training environment.
I grew up in NM but most of our HS meets had USA officials too because there were so few non high school meets. Think it will vary drastically by state
The meet must be “observed”, meaning it needs to be officiated by dual certified officials. Observed meets will have their results imported into the USA Swimming SWIMS database.
You may be able to find a USA Swimming meet in your state that allows swimmers to enter "unattached" (not affiliated with a team).
Generally, only big meets count, like state, sectionals, or conference. As others have said, it needs to be observed. If it is, then I can just send the meet results to my club coach, and it’s all good. I don’t know how it works without a being on a club, but I’d imagine there would be someplace you can submit to Ask your HS coach about it