State Meet Information Letter 

Congratulations on qualifying for the 59th Iowa Girls State Swimming aand Diving Meet. Our goal is for you and your athletes to have a memorable experience at the state meet. 

TIcket Passcodes: Passcodes were emailed to coaches and athletic directors late this afternoon. If you have not received an email or passcode from me, please contact me ([email protected]) as soon as possible. 

NO ZOOM MEETING: Due to too many conflicts, there will NOT be a Zoom meeting. There will be a coaches’ meeting on Thursday at 9:00 a.m. in the coaches’ hospitality room (the wet classroom).

VAN PARKING: Team vans should park in the north lot on South Capital Street. Buses will need to park at Hancher Auditorium. 

TEAM CAMPS: Each team will be assigned a camp location along the pool deck. Athletes may leave their belongings behind the bleachers on the decks. We  want to keep the walkways around the pool as clean as possible, so no bags should be placed in front of the athlete seating area. 

Team banners & signs are not allowed directly over the pool.

OUTSIDE FOOD: Teams are permitted to bring coolers into the facility. However, please note that glass items are not allowed in the natatorium. If you are bringing in food, please keep your area clean at all times. 

No Event Parades During Friday’s Preliminary Meet: There will be no event parades before each event on Thursday morning prelims. Competitors will need to report to the blocks independently. It is the athlete’s responsibility to report to the starting blocks.

Grand March on Thursday morning – Please read carefully. The grand march of teams takes place prior to the start of the Thursday morning preliminary meet. When the pool closes at 11:30, we will begin lining up teams on the deck immediately.  Each team will have an Olympic-style placard that has the school’s name on it that they will carry. Teams will march in alphabetical order. All athletes must be in school-issued apparel.  Once the march has ended, there will be a short presentation honoring the power point team champions, coaches' service awards, and regional coaching and athlete meet awards, followed by the National Anthem. Coaches, if you feel that your swimmers in the 200 Freestyle need to continue warming up, they may do so after participating in the parade. Once your team has been recognized and lined up with the other teams, your 200 freestyle swimmers are free to return to the warm-up area to prepare for the race. If your team is not competing on Thursday and will not be at the preliminary meet, please let me know for scripting purposes.

Team Photo Needed: Thank you to the schools that have already emailed me your team photos. If you have not yet sent this to me, please email it to me at [email protected]. If you have not yet sent your photo to me, please do so before Noon on Tuesday, November 11. 

PASS GATE: ONLY actual contestants (qualifiers), including one designated alternate per relay, head coach, assistant coach, and team manager, may enter through the pass gate. Packets with bag tags and deck passes are to be picked up at the pass gate. Reminder, only coaches employed by the school will be allowed on deck. This does NOT include club and volunteer coaches. DECK PASSES WILL BE LIMITED TO THREE (3) PER SCHOOL - NO EXCEPTIONS. A purchased ticket does not grant access to the deck. Schools that make passes available to non-school coaches, parents or athletes in addition to those who qualified risk forfeiture of team allowance.

TICKET PUNCHED SIGNS: We have made "ticket punched" placards for all swimmers who qualified for the state swimming and diving meet. If you were not a regional champion, there will be Ticket Punched signs for all state-qualifying athletes when you check in at the pass gate.

MANAGER’S PASS: A pass for your team manager will be included in your packets. The pass gives managers access to the deck. It does NOT give them access to the coaches’ hospitality room or officials’ rooms. 

DIVING SHEETS: Diving sheets must be filled out using www.divemeets.com. Instructions on completing this may be viewed by clicking here. 

Meet schedule
Session 1: Thursday, November 14  – State Preliminary Meet
8:30 a.m. —  Pass gate opens for teams
9:00 a.m.  — Coaches’ Meeting
9:30 a.m. — Swimmers’ Meeting (Pool Deck)
9:45 a.m. —  Pool opens for warm-ups
11:00 a.m.     Doors open to general public (reserved seating)
11:30 a.m. – Pool closes to swimmers
11:45 a.m. –  Parade of Teams/IHSSCA Awards/National Anthem
NOON            Swimming Prelims Begin 

Session 2: Thursday, November 13 – Diving Meet
1:30 p.m. – Pool Opens for Warm-ups
2:30 p.m. – Doors Open to the Public (General Admission)
3:20 p.m. – Divers Meeting
3:30 p.m. – State Diving Meet

Session 3 – Friday, November 14 – State Swimming Finals
8:30 a.m. — Doors Open for Teams
9:00 a.m. — Coaches’ meeting (classroom)
9:30 a.m. — Pool opens for warm-ups
11:00 a.m. — Doors open to the Public (reserved seating)
Noon  — Hall of Fame Ceremony/Golden Plaque of Distinction Award/Swimming Finals

THURSDAY SWIMMING WARM-UPS: Before the start of the Thursday morning prelim competition, your competitors must be advised that, in the interest of safety and establishing proper warm-up conditions, swimmers will use the pool as follows: 

9:45 to 10:20: all eight lanes will be used for lap (circle) swimming. 

10:20 to 10:55:  Lanes 6, 7 & 8 circle swim, lanes 3, 4 & 5 relay exchanges deep end/turns shallow end, lanes 1 & 2 for sprints

10:55-11:30: Lane 8 will be used for lap (circle) swimming. Lanes 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 will be used for sprints. This leaves lanes 4 and 5 in the deep end for relay starts with the shallow end being utilized for turns. 

FRIDAY SWIMMING WARM-UPS

9:30 to 10:15: all eight lanes will be used for lap (circle) swimming

10:15 to 11:00 lap (circle) swimming will continue in lanes 6, 7 and 8. Lanes 3, 4 and 5 in the deep end will be used for relay take offs with the same lanes in the shallow end being utilized for turns. Lanes 1 and 2 will be used for sprints. 

11:00 to 11:45: lane 8 will be used for lap (circle) swimming.  Lane 1 will designated as a warm-up lane for the Para-Swimmers.Lanes 2, 3, 6 and 7 will be used for sprints. Lanes 4 and 5 in the deep end for relay starts with the shallow end being utilized for turns. 

Friday Event Parades: There will be an event parade before each heat during Friday’s finals. 

Friday Relays: Coaches will receive a copy of their relays at the 9:00 a.m. coaches' meeting on Friday and will make any changes on those sheets.

Preliminary/Final Reminders: The fastest eight swims from the Thursday preliminary meet will qualify for the championship finals, with the next eight swims qualifying for the consolation finals on Friday. The next two highest non-qualifiers (17th and 18th) will be named to ensure a full heat of finalists, provided there is no delay in the meet, in case one of the 16 qualifiers is unable to swim due to injury or illness. 

In the event of a swim-off, swimmers shall have a 25-minute period between the swim-off and any other event in which they participate. 

AWARDS: The top eight place winners in each event will be presented with awards at the awards stand. To prepare for the awards presentation, the first eight place finishers are to report to the southeast corner of the pool by the diving well one event following their race. At the appropriate time, award recipients will proceed to the awards stand to receive their medals. Competitors recognized on the awards stand must be dressed appropriately. This means warm-up or other school-issued clothing must be worn over the suit. Coaches, please remind your swimmers that to be recognized on the awards stand, they must report to the designated location at the scheduled time. We will wait a reasonable amount of time for your athletes to report, but we will not delay the flow of the meet while waiting for them. We will proceed without your athlete if they fail to report within a reasonable timeframe. Team trophies for first, second and third place teams along with the team-para champion, will be presented at the end of the meet. 

AWARD PACKETS: All competitors will receive a medal. Award stand finishers (1-8) will receive medals with ribbons. The 9th through 32nd place will receive medals. Packets for all competitors and results are to be picked up by the coach following the conclusion of the meet from Kiersten Schneider located in the office adjacent to the coaches’ hospitality room. PLEASE REMEMBER TO PICK UP YOUR AWARDS AFTER THE MEET.

STREAMING OF THE MEET: Free live streams of Thursday’s preliminary meet and diving meet, along with Friday’s finals, will be posted on the IGHSAU website. 

Check out State Swimming and Diving Central: All information will be posted in the Swimming and Diving Tournament Central page on the IGHSAU website. 

MERCHANDISE: Fine Designs offers merchandise for sale both on-site and online.  

Photography: Chris Pose is the official photographer of the State Swimming and Diving Meet. Click here to view his website. 

Programs will also be on sale for $5.00. Program sales will be cashless transactions.