Relay Did Not Finish

I was sitting with a couple of coaches over the weekend and one coach asked the other if they could remember the last time when all the scheduled relay swimmers showed up for a session. Neither could.

Coaches frequently find themselves with an undermanned relay team but still want them to compete. They don't want the athletes who are present to be denied an opportunity to swim and they also want an official time from the initial swimmer's split. This post will examine what's allowed and what's not. 

Several USA Swimming rules apply ...

RELAY — a race in which each team member swims a specified portion of the course.

101.7 - Four swimmers on each team ....

A relay teams needs four athletes. One to swim each leg of the relay. A swimmer cannot swim two legs.

Who can a coach choose from to fill the team roster?

102.3.1 - Relay teams shall not compete unattached. In all cases relay teams must be composed of USA Swimming members of the same club, school or organization which is a member of USA Swimming.

There goes any unattached swimmers on the relay. An unattached swimmer is never eligible to be part of a relay team.

102.3.7 - Names of eligible relay swimmers and order of swimming shall be submitted to the clerk of course or to the head lane timer. Any changes in names of the competing swimmers or their order of swimming must be declared to the Head Lane Timer prior to the start of the heat in which such relay team is entered. No changes will be permitted thereafter.

The coach needs to submit the names of four eligible swimmers. The meet announcement specifies who is eligible to complete in a relay event (i.e. gender, age group, qualifying time). All four swimmers named must conform to the event's eligibility requirements. No girls on a boys relay. No 8 year olds on the 9-10 relay. 

If the team can submit four eligible names then that relay team may compete. All those swimmers need not be present. They just need to be eligible. What occurs when the relay team competes is another matter.

If a team cannot submit four eligible names for a relay their entry should be scratched and if already seeded they may not compete. 

Having submitted an eligible roster the team may find that they cannot finish. Nothing prevents the team from starting or continuing the race. If the team fails to finish we simply disqualify them (DNF). 

So if a coached finds that they are short a swimmer they must still list someone who is eligible for the team to compete. If they can submit an eligible fourth swimmer's name but only three are present that team can still start the race. If they cannot submit four eligible names the relay team must sit out the race. 

It's not for us to judge why having started the race they did not finish the race. We just DNF the relay. The lead-off swimmer will be eligible for an official time/record, and the swimmer not present will have that relay event count against their event entry maximums.  

If a team submits less than four names or one of the swimmers is ineligible then the relay team is ineligible. That team should not be allowed to start. The administrative official should ask the coach to resubmit with four eligible names and if they cannot then scratch the team.

If a team does use an ineligible swimmer then their result should be voided by scratching the team from the event. It's the team's responsibility to use eligible swimmers. The fact that we didn't spot the problem and stop them doesn't somehow make them eligible. It's just unfortunate. 

Keep in mind that relays are all about one team's four swimmers against another team's four swimmers. The fact that a lead-off time can be used as an official or record time is just an artifact from the race. That's not why we run relay events. 

If we start letting ineligible teams race in a relay then that opens up a big can of worms:

• The other teams don't know that the ineligible team is effectively already DQ'ed. They think they are racing a legitimate team and that impacts their behavior. For example, if the race against an illegitimate team is close a legitimate team member might push their take-off rather than play it safe. If that ends up getting them DQ'ed for an early take-off then that's not right. Another example would be a legitimate team member going really hard in an effort to catch an illegitimate team and blowing up on the second half of their leg. 
• The ineligible team can never really "win". Their participation muddies the race results. It's unfair to the other teams; those that they "beat" and those that think they beat them.

You may get some push-back if an ineligible team swims and we refuse to accept the lead-off time from a swimmer who was eligible. They may say, "What's the harm now that the meet is over." I'd answer by saying that we're all (athletes, coaches, and officials) responsible for ensuring the integrity of our meets and the results. If a team was ineligible and we knowingly look the other way because it was expedient or we weren't willing to take some heat for this mistake then we'll chip away at the honesty and principles that are vital for our sport to exist and grow.