Not certain how track meets run, but swim meets are a different animal. Events are spread between individuals, and between strokes. In other words, you don't run the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free all together. Don't forget relays, which utilize multiple team members. Cannot really describe HOW the events are split, but do so to enable recovery times between say, the above freestyles, because one swimmer could swim all the freestyle event. So by the 500 free, they would be dragging. Even though events are male, female, new event of male, female and so on. Heats are 'seeded' by times, with slower times (assuming 8 lanes, as the Colorado timing system is limited to 8), or six depending on pool size. Anyway, in the freestyle - the easiest stroke to learn/master, There will be far more heats, than say the 500 butterfly (which might be only one heat, because of its difficulty (stroke) and the strength factor required. Usually, a school is limited to two relays (and A and a B), based on times, so those go pretty quickly (if a dual meet, then there will be four teams in the water, eight if the genders both go at once. So, back to the freestyle. If there are 8 heats, that means 8 heats x 8 swimmers, then there are 64 swimmers. Soooo, what can/should happen, are that the fastest 8 swimmers are seeded in the Finals, and the next fastest are seeded as preliminaries, with the Finals eligible for 'points' which are given to 1st place to 8th place (counted for team scores). Same for all the strokes and relays obviously. Programs are worth purchasing, or at smaller meets, are called 'psych sheets'. One, it tells you when your kid swims (event # and stroke), and the posted times that those in his heat have already made. Seeding for the lanes are as follows: Fastest is #4, then #5, then #3, then #6, then #2, then #7, then #1, and finally #8. Once they're in the water, and they're seeded property, one will see a V in the pool, headed toward the far wall. Not entirely certain have explained what you wanted to hear or asked, but kinda got on a roll. It's complicated, but given enough experience, it makes sense. Probably not intuitively, but it works. Any specific questions, let me know and give it a whirl. Enjoy. Father bragging, but daughter made Nationals all four years (BIOLA, NAIA, not Pac 12/B10 etc), and was awarded three All American 'paperweights'.
