Hello Scott,

Senior Recognition at Senior Champs

We are going to try something a little different this year. As you know, we recognize our graduating Seniors on Saturday night at finals. We are adding a multimedia component to the festivities this year, and here is how it will be handled:

• We will recognize each athlete by name (according to team), and we will have them walk across the bulkhead. Once all members of a club have been named, they will be dismissed.

• Over the course of the weekend, we will have a slideshow running during warm ups on the large video board. This slideshow will consist of photos and a bio of our graduating seniors (they need to submit these).

• We are hoping that we can better utilize that time between warm ups and the start of finals, as well as providing our Seniors with meaningful recognition throughout the weekend.

• Coaches, I need your help in pushing this to your athletes. They need to submit this form by February 16. Our Athlete Committee will be working hard in putting together this presentation, so please send reminders to your athletes. I know this is more important to them and their parents than it is for you, so I do appreciate your attention to this. Also, we will provide basic oversight in terms of language, but we will not be the arbiters of taste. Good luck to us all.

• The Athlete Committee is also coming up with some fun ideas for a giveaway / fun event / theme days, so stay tuned. We will post those on the event pages on the MV site.

The OME Situation

Since this is our first year, I know there have been some headaches. There have been reports that OME is going down here and there and people getting kicked out of USA Swimming, so you need to start getting your athletes into the meet as soon as possible. The list below is NOT the same as my last email. Some of the bullet points are the same, some are not. Please read through this thoroughly.

• Number 1 tip so far - you cannot do meet entries through OME if you do not have Club OME Access! A person designated as Club Admin can assign that access by going to My Club > Team Management > Staff. Selecting the pencil/notepad icon next to the name and choosing to add the role Club OME Access in the Club Non-Coaching Positions dropdown menu.

• We will have technical / coach meetings online through Zoom for each meet on the evening prior to the start date (Thursday for Districts, Wednesdays for Senior and Age Group Champs). The District meeting will be combined. This will serve as the primary coaches meeting at the beginning of the event.

• All entries must be processed through OME. Meet hosts will not accept entry files or hand entries from teams. (There are exceptions such as athletes subject to the age-up rule and top 2 in Districts qualifying for AG Champs. These exceptions are outlined in the meet information packets).

• One eagle-eyed coach has already found an error in my time standards input (13-14 Girls 400 IM Champs cut was listed incorrectly). This impacted both AG Champs and District meets. If you find something, PLEASE let me know as soon as possible.

• There are limits in terms of per day/per meet competition limits for individuals, but there are no limits on how many events and athlete can be ENTERED. Subsequently, athletes are charged for each event ENTERED.

• OME lists entry fees as $0. Each club will be emailed an entree fee summary after the meet deadline.

• Coaches not listed in the OME will NOT be allowed on deck during the meet.

• Override/Hand entries will NOT be accepted. If you find a time not in SWIMS, let's investigate. Get started on your entries earlier rather than later will help us chase any issues.

• Our meet entry deadlines have been set at 6:00pm, but the OME does not allow for 6:00pm to be an option. So, the meet has been set to Mountain Time Zone with a deadline of 5:00pm (6:00pm Central). This is the reason that the time zone setting may appear funky.

• This link will give you a visual step-by-step to finding the meets. Please remember to add some search parameters such as LSC (Missouri Valley) and a date range. Otherwise your search will yield no results, so many that you will never find the meet you are looking for, or you will crash SWIMS.

• Meet events files will be available only for administrative and billing purposes. You can get access to these by submitting this form.

Officiating at Championship Meets

Championship meets can be a little intimidating when it comes to officiating. However, this is a very important step in the journey of an official. Please encourage your parents to sign up to officiate at our championship meets this season. Our officials community is welcoming and there are a lot of great people to meet. Sign ups can be found on the meet pages on the MV site.

 PO Box 307, Lawrence, KS 66044

 785 979-1826

director@missourivalleyswimming.com