Conference meets could be better timed

In his weekly high school sports opinion column, Chris Lillstrung argues conference swim meets should be more uniformly timed in the calendar to benefit swimmers in their postseason aspirations.

Conference invitationals for high school swimming are timed and prioritized with such variance, they should come with a disclaimer.

Not that one league does it right or one does it wrong, of course.

But it is interesting to note the place conference invitationals have in the calendar, as well as priority felt with their respective competitions.

In The News-Herald coverage area, for example, the Western Reserve Conference and Greater Cleveland Conference meets are held on the first Saturday in January.

The Chagrin Valley Conference meet is the third Saturday in January.

The North Coast League meet is the fourth Saturday in January.

Every year for the CVC meet, there is one question I typically pose to area swimmers: “We’re a month removed from Viking, but not quite into tapering and ramping toward a state push. So how tricky is the timing of this meet? Do you want to record a good swim, but maybe not too good of a swim?”

With its depth, quality and aspiration, Hawken has every right to handle CVC however it sees fit.

But it does go to show where performing well at CVC falls in the grand scheme. They’re hospitable hosts. The swimming is still strong across the board. But they compete differently. This year, it was volunteered to me Hawken had an earlymorning practice — then it contested CVC.

When it swam in CVC, its array of swimmers participated for the most part in what, for many of them, are “off events,” events in which those swimmers won’t compete in the postseason.

There were exceptions. Connor Brown is one of our area’s premier IMers, and he swam a 200 IM. Lindsay Berlin is a threetime state qualifier in 100 breaststroke, and she swam a 100 breast.

But then you have, say, Jessica Eden competing in a 200 free. A great IMer and backstroker, Eden’s last invitational 200 free came in December 2018.

Granted, the competition is still there, off event or not. The Hawks still win team titles.

Other CVC programs competing there, their swimmers aren’t in off events to that extent. You’re still going to see Kirtland’s Kaley Ream in a 500 free or Chagrin Falls’ Clark Reboul in sprint free or John Cashy in 100 back.

Chances are good, though, there won’t be a season PR in a spotlight event for a swimmer at CVC, either. Relays are different — 200 free relay usually delivers nicely. But individually, times likely won’t crack the top five fastest locally to date this winter.

This concept also goes the other way. WRC and GCC are timed so early in January, it’s right after the holidays and Viking or the annual pre-Christmas meet at SPIRE, Ned Reeb, etc.

It has to be a conundrum: If the objective in a season is relatively progressive improvement and time drop in order to peak around district and state, do you really want to drop the hammer two midseason invitationals in a row?

Are you leaving a good swim in the pool unnecessarily early?

NCL is timed so deep in January, it runs into the transfer into tapering and preparation for the road to Canton.

The chances of seeing a fantastic time at a conference meet, generally speaking, are probably less later as opposed to earlier in the season.

Unless it’s handled with a different perspective, which we’ll discuss in a moment.

Access to natatoriums plays a key factor. So does when coaches and conferences want to schedule their meets, and opinions are not unified.

I’ve had coaches and swimmers in all of those timing circumstances lament the challenge their situations yield.

It’s not about putting our area’s traditional powers on a pedestal or knocking anyone else down a peg depending on their philosophy or quality, even though unfortunately at times it’s interpreted that way.

The broader point is league meets should play a vital role in all swimmers’ regular-season process as the postseason beckons — and where their ceiling may be is beside the point.

Coming from more of a track and field background, and having covered that sport for many years as well, I’ve always enjoyed how high school track and field maximizes its conference-meet component.

Traditionally, the last week of the regular season is for league competition, except for NCL, which is the Tuesday and Thursday the prior week.

Athletes go into their conference meet knowing there will be fierce competition, as well as a great opportunity to PR and drive momentum toward a state charge.

All-time area records have been set in track and field at conference meets. Mentor’s Paige Floriea, who is already well on her way to being one of our area’s great track and field athletes of her generation and of all time, set the area standard last year at the GCC meet in her signature event, long jump. She went on to win the event three weeks later at state in Division I. Popping a 20-foot jump at a league meet wasn’t a deterrent amid the process.

Swimming is albeit a different conversation. Finding regular-season benchmarks, then tapering and, hopefully, peaking, is a complicated process.

But it would be great if the timing of league meets could assist a little more in that quest.

It won’t happen because of pool availability, conference and coach belief, etc.

But I’d be curious to see what would happen if all conference swim meets were contested on the same Saturday in mid-to-late January. Use early-to-mid January as the place for more experimentation. Provide, say, two weeks for tapering after a league meet heading into sectional.

It may benefit swimmers to locate benchmarks, or close to it, closer to the postseason and to tapering.

It’s great for track and field. Maybe it would be for swimming, too.

If there were more uniformity, maybe a disclaimer wouldn’t be necessary.

Lillstrung can be reached at CLillstrung@NewsHerald.com; @CLillstrungNH on Twitter.