I believe that the swim needs to be recognized by USA Swimming, which means either fully sanctioned, or done as an observed swim. You can do a request for USA Swimming observation through your local USA Swimming LSC. We have our New England Masters Championship meets observed by USA Swimming. All of our officials are USA Swimming officials anyways. What is required in our case is that you notify the referee before your swim that you would like your swim observed for USA Swimming purposes. Then, those swims are sent (by the meet director, usually) to the LSC's NTV (national time verification) chairperson for entry into the USA Swimming SWIMS database.
It's very common for masters meets, high school meets, and college meets to be observed for USA Swimming purposes. (The only complicating factor is that the meet director needs to keep track of the observations... it's possible for your swim to be valid under high school rules, but be DQed under USA Swimming rules. If it's a high school meet, your time would be valid in the meet, and you'd score the points, but the time would not count for USA Swimming.)
For USMS/USA Swimming, there is a page of the USMS rule book that highlights the key differences between USA Swimming rules and USMS rules.
-Rick
I believe that the swim needs to be recognized by USA Swimming, which means either fully sanctioned, or done as an observed swim. You can do a request for USA Swimming observation through your local USA Swimming LSC. We have our New England Masters Championship meets observed by USA Swimming. All of our officials are USA Swimming officials anyways. What is required in our case is that you notify the referee before your swim that you would like your swim observed for USA Swimming purposes. Then, those swims are sent (by the meet director, usually) to the LSC's NTV (national time verification) chairperson for entry into the USA Swimming SWIMS database.
It's very common for masters meets, high school meets, and college meets to be observed for USA Swimming purposes. (The only complicating factor is that the meet director needs to keep track of the observations... it's possible for your swim to be valid under high school rules, but be DQed under USA Swimming rules. If it's a high school meet, your time would be valid in the meet, and you'd score the points, but the time would not count for USA Swimming.)
For USMS/USA Swimming, there is a page of the USMS rule book that highlights the key differences between USA Swimming rules and USMS rules.
-Rick
