Attleboro Bluefish 2002 Winter Specialty Meet
Sponsored By
The Attleboro Bluefish
Sanctioned by New England Swimming
Sanction # NE-02-23

DATES AND LOCATION

Friday, Saturday & Sunday, January 25 to 27, 2002 at Attleboro High School

CONTACTS

For ABF Team information, warm-up schedules, timing needs, and/or “day-of-the-meet” weather or emergency notices, access the ABF web page (www.abfswim.com) through the US Swim Link City pages
or call the ABF hotline at (508) 761-8992.

SESSIONS

FACILITY

Attleboro High School has an eight-lane, 25 yd pool with non-turbulent lane lines, Colorado Timing System (electronic touch pads and scoreboard) and bleacher seating for spectators (25 yard events use two electronic buttons).  Members of New England Swimming and their families are restricted to the pool, spectator stands and the concession area.  There is no smoking in the building or within 500 feet of the building.  Failure to abide by these rules may result in ejection from the facility.  Only people with proper credentials will be allowed on deck.

FORMAT

All events are swum as timed finals and will be deck seeded after the scratch deadline.  The scratch deadline will be 45 minutes before the start of each session.  Heat and lane assignments will be posted and handed out to coaches prior to starting each session.  There will be no bullpen.  All other swimmers are to report directly to their lane when their event is called.  Coaches are responsible for ensuring their swimmers are in the correct heat and lane.  Any swimmer who does not scratch an event but fails to swim will then be scratched from the remainder of his/her events for that day.

ELIGIBILITY

All swimmers must be 2002 USA Swimming registered swimmers.  Please include USS number on the entry form.  Swimmers may register with Mary Riddell, 20 Cleveland Rd., Needham, MA 02192.  Age eligibility is determined by the age of the swimmer on the first day of the meet and must be shown on the entry form.  All coaches on deck must be registered with US Swimming and present their coach membership cards.

ENTRY INFORMATION

No swimmer may enter more than 5 individual events per day.  A swimmer 10 & Under, 13 or 14 years old will be allowed to enter the afternoon “open” events only if they are taking the SAT examination on Saturday morning or if the swimmer ages up to the next age group before their respective NE age group championship and only if their entry does not cause the morning session to exceed the four-hour time limit.  Acceptance of an entry in the Open age group is at the discretion of the Meet Manager using this guideline.

Entries must be submitted to Walt Meissner and will not be accepted any earlier than Monday, December 3, 2002 or any later than Thursday, January 17, 2002.  All entries arriving on or before December 3 will be counted as arriving on December 3.  NT or “no time” entries are not allowed and will be scratched immediately upon receipt of the entry.  If a swimmer does not have an official time for a particular event, a coach’s time must be used instead.  See below for procedures for declining entries into the meet.

Email Entries:  Email entries with a standard SD3 or CL2 data file of your team’s entries attached are encouraged but are not counted as received until payment is received.  Entries (either email or sent overnight mail) will not be accepted until all meet fees are paid.  If you are submitting your entry via email, you may pay your team’s meet fees using “Paypal”, a web based payment system that transfers money between two accounts.  If you do not already have a Paypal account and/or you need help paying by email, you may call or email Walt Meissner at 508-384-2925 or wcm@bu.edu   Make Paypal payments to wcm@bu.edu.  Once your Paypal payment and email entry is confirmed, send a hard copy of your entry with your summary sheet to the address below before January 17 (regular mail is acceptable provided it arrives before January 17).

Other Entries:  Send a diskette with a standard SD3 or CL2 data file and a hard copy of your entry, either using the enclosed form, or a computer print out containing the entry in a similar format, with your summary sheet and check made payable to Attleboro Bluefish on or before January 17.  United States Postal Service Overnight Mail is the preferred mailing method.  If Overnight Mail is used, indicate that the package be delivered even if no one is there to sign for it.

Whether sent using email or regular mail, all entry forms must be accurate, legible and complete.  No fax, telephone, or deck entries will be accepted and all fees must accompany the entry.  Entries may not be changed after they are submitted.  Exceptions to this policy are at the discretion of the Meet Manager or Meet Referee.  Seed cards are not required.  Meet fees will not be returned or credited to new entries for scratches or errors in the entry.  PLEASE NOTE: Your entry must include at least one email address of your team’s contact(s).  All future meet information will be sent to this email address.  Your team may have as many email addresses for information distribution as you wish.

The entry fee is $2.50 per individual event that are 200 yards or less and $4.00 per individual event that are 400 yards and more when submitting entry in with a standard SD3 data file as defined by US Swimming.  In accordance with the entry rules specified by New England Swimming, if an entry is not submitted on computer diskette in a standard SD3 format, the entry fee is an additional $0.50 per individual entry (e.g. $3.00 for events 200 yards or less and $4.50 for events 400 yards or more).  Please mail the hard copy of your entry to:
Attleboro Bluefish:
c/o Walt Meissner
55 Jennifer Drive
Wrentham, Ma 02093

PROCEDURES FOR CUTTING THE MEET (please read this section carefully)

The number of entries will be limited so that a given session projects to be within the required four-hour time limit.  If the meet becomes oversubscribed, entries will be cut by the date the entry and payment is received.  If email entries are sent without payment, they will be ignored until a Paypal payment is received or the check for the entry arrives in the mail.  All entries and payments arriving on or before Monday, December 3, will be counted as arriving on the first day (i.e., December 3).  If the meet should become oversubscribed due to multiple team entries arriving on that first day or some later day, entries and/or teams will be denied entry into the meet using the following criteria:

*As a last resort, if any given session exceeds the four-hour time limit, we may consider reducing the total number of entries per swimmer allowed (e.g., from five (5) events to four (4) events) and entry fees will be returned.  If the Friday night distance events exceed the four-hour time limit, we may limit entries to one event per swimmer for that session or establish a cutoff time for each event.

We will resist limiting the number of events or cutting by time and will only consider it if we exceed the time limits due to entries from multiple teams arriving on the last day before the meet became oversubscribed and it avoids using the lottery option.

Again, please take note, we are intent on being fair to all teams attempting to enter this meet, and entries will not be accepted until payment is received. 

UPDATING TIMES

We are mindful of the fact that entries are usually submitted many weeks before the date of the meet and that many coaches may not yet have accurate times for their swimmers.  We ask that care be given to submitting good times for swimmers so swimmers of similar ability, even if of different age, are swimming in the same heats.  Therefore, we are permitting teams to update times up to January 20, 2002.  This meet will run using the Hy-tek Meet Manager program that allows times to be updated electronically provided the updated entry file does not add, subtract, or change events of the swimmers from the original entry.  Please email an updated entry file to Walt Meissner before January 20.   We will manually update times only if the new time differs by more than :01 for 50 yard, :02 for 100 yard; :04 for 200 yard; or :10 for 400 yard or longer events.

SCRATCHES AND POSITIVE CHECK-IN

All scratches and positive check-in must be submitted to the Clerk of Course’s Desk before the established deadline for the day’s events.  Deadlines are:

Positive check-in is required for the 400 IM and 500-Free held on Friday, January 25 and must be confirmed at the Clerk of the Course’s Desk before 5:15 PM.

All scratches for each subsequent day’s events (Saturday, January 26 and Sunday, January 27) must be submitted to the Clerk of the Course’s Desk at least 45 minutes before the session begins (i.e. 7:15 AM for morning sessions, 1:45 PM for the Saturday afternoon session and 1:15 PM for Sunday afternoon sessions).  Any swimmer who fails to compete in an individual event in which he/she is entered and did not scratch before the session deadline will be barred from further competition for that day and will also be automatically scratched from the following days’ events unless the Clerk of Course has been notified of the swimmer’s intention to compete by 5:00 PM the evening before the next day’s events.

AWARDS

This meet is your “last chance” to improve times before the February short course championship meets.  Therefore, the event schedule has been revised to offer swimmers and coaches the flexibility to swim a greater variety of events.  We expect that there will be a significant number of swimmers who will switch between age groups, 14 & Under and OPEN events as needed, so therefore, we are not awarding High Point.  Ribbons will be awarded for the first 8 places in the individual events for each event. 

RULES

Current 2002 USA Swimming rules will govern all competition and the decisions of the referee will be final unless a written protest is lodged within 30 minutes of the swim heat being protested.  Disabled swimmer forms are required by USA Swimming and are available from the New England Swimming office.

OFFICIALS AND TIMERS

All teams are asked to provide an appropriate share of officials and timers.  Please include with your entry a list of your team’s eligible officials, their phone numbers, and the session(s) they are available to work.  The Referee for this meet will be Paul Maker, and officials are encouraged to contact Paul at (508) 384-8480 or email at makerp@fcl-us.net before the meet.  Team warm-up lane assignments and timer goals will be posted on the ABF website, included in the coach’s packet, and noted in the program.

SAFETY, BEHAVIOR AND IMPORTANT RULES TO NOTE

All team and individual warm-ups and warm-downs shall be under the direct supervision of the respective swimmers' coach, or individual designated by the referee.  Any swimmer participating in the meet without a USA Swimming registered coach must report to the referee before the warm-up for the session.  Diving will be prohibited during warm-ups with the exception of the sprint lanes when they are announced.  Glass containers are prohibited in the pool area and in the locker rooms.  There is no smoking in the building or within 500 feet of the building.  Failure to abide by these rules may result in ejection from the facility.  The Attleboro Bluefish Swim Team and the Attleboro Bluefish Booster Club IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST OR STOLEN ITEMS.

In accordance with New England Swimming policy, “There will be no shaving at any New England Calendar meet or at any other competition receiving a New England Swimming sanction.”  Therefore, no shaving is allowed in the showers, locker rooms, on the pool deck, or in the bleachers.

Meet officials will watch for swimmers or meet spectators who violate facility privileges.  Horseplay will not be tolerated.  Parents must supervise younger children in attendance at the meet.  Officials have the authority to dismiss swimmers and spectators from the facility.  Coaches are responsible for communicating this to both swimmers and parents.

ADMISSION

CONCESSIONS

Refreshments will be available for all sessions.

DIRECTIONS

Attleboro High School is located on Rathburn Willard Drive in Attleboro, Massachusetts.  Take I-95 to the Attleboro Exit #3A, Route 123 towards Attleboro Center.  Immediately after exiting off I-95, take a left at the Texaco gas station onto Lathrop Drive.  Follow approximately one mile and take a right onto Rome Blvd.  Rome Blvd will curve to the right and then back to the left before becoming Rathburn Willard Drive.  Attleboro High School will be on your right.  Enter the first large parking lot next to the School.  On this route, look for signs indicating the way to the high school.

Often at Attleboro High School, parking may be difficult due to a number of other activities at the school.  We suggest to those attending the meet that they carpool whenever possible.  Thank you.