Wells Branch Armada

Every week, we love celebrating the hard work, improvement, and team spirit of our Armada swimmers! Here’s a quick guide to the awards your athlete may earn throughout the season.

• Heat Winner Ribbons

Given to swimmers or relay teams that finish 1st in their heat.

A swimmer can win a Heat Winner ribbon even if they do not earn an overall place ribbon, and vice versa.

• Place Ribbons

Awarded based on a swimmer’s overall finish in their event according to Northwest Swim Circuit rules.

• Participation Ribbons

Awarded to swimmers who competed in at least one event but did not receive a place ribbon

• Time Improvement Ribbons

Given when a swimmer beats their best qualifying time from earlier in the current season in an individual event.

To earn this ribbon, the swimmer must already have a qualifying time in that event before the meet.

• Triple Drop Ribbon

Awarded to swimmers who improve their season-best times in three or more individual events during one meet.

Each week, Wells Branch Armada celebrates the swimmers in each age group who achieve the biggest overall time improvements during that week’s meet. Those swimmers earn the title of “Fast Fishy” and receive a special award cap.

Fast Fishy calculations are based only on times from the current swim season, and only events where the swimmer improved are included in the calculation.

Because SwimTopia tracks a swimmer’s entire swim history, the improvement numbers shown there may not always match our weekly Fast Fishy calculations. Swimmers who had faster times in previous seasons may appear to have “negative” improvements in SwimTopia, even though they improved compared to their current-season best times.

Here are a few common reasons why your swimmer may not have received the award even if they dropped a lot of time:

• Only time drops count toward Fast Fishy.
  If a swimmer drops time in two events but swims slower in another event, only the improvements are added together for Fast Fishy purposes. Slower swims are not subtracted from the total.

  Example:

  • Event 1: dropped 2 seconds
  • Event 2: dropped 15 seconds
  • Event 3: added 20 seconds

  For Fast Fishy, the swimmer’s total improvement would still be 17 seconds.

• Fast Fishy caps are awarded only once per season.
  After a swimmer has already earned a Fast Fishy cap, they can still be recognized again later in the season for additional achievements. Repeat winners may receive a shoutout in the newsletter and a small treat, but the cap is passed on to the next eligible swimmer who has not yet earned one this season.
• Fast Fishy compares swims only within the current season.
  Meet Mobile and SwimTopia often compare against a swimmer’s lifetime best time, while Fast Fishy compares against the swimmer’s best time from this season only.

  Example:

  • Last year best freestyle: 45.00
  • Best freestyle this season before the meet: 50.00
  • New time at this week’s meet: 40.00

  Meet Mobile may show a 5-second improvement, but for Fast Fishy purposes the improvement is 10 seconds because we compare only to this season’s best time.

If you believe there may have been an error in the calculations, please let us know. We truly appreciate families helping us double-check results to make sure swimmers receive the recognition they earned.

Please contact:

• The newsletter coordinator
• The Meet Director
• Or the Team President

They will work with the computer team to review the results.

Please do not bring Fast Fishy calculation questions directly to the coaches. Coaches help announce the awards and distribute caps, but they are not responsible for verifying the calculations.

What is a qualifying time?

A qualifying time is recorded when a swimmer completes an event legally without being disqualified.

When will awards be handed out?

Most awards are distributed during the week after the meet. Please check your family folder at practice.

SwimTopia says my swimmer improved, so why didn’t they get a Time Improvement ribbon?

SwimTopia compares meet times to your swimmer’s career best times. Armada awards are based only on the swimmer’s best time from the current season.

The first qualifying swim in an event each season becomes the swimmer’s starting season-best time and does not count for Time Improvement, Triple Drop, or Fast Fishy awards.

Example:

• A swimmer’s best 50 freestyle time at age 11 was 40 seconds.
• Their first qualifying 50 freestyle swim at age 12 is 35 seconds.

SwimTopia shows this as a 5-second improvement over their career best, but because it is their first qualifying swim of the season, it does not qualify for improvement awards. Future swims that season can qualify.

How does the Red, White, and Blue practice meet affect awards?

The Red, White, and Blue (RWB) meet is an unofficial practice meet designed to help swimmers, coaches, and volunteers prepare for regular meets.

RWB times:

• Do count as first qualifying times for the season
• Can be used for Heat Winner, Place, and Participation ribbons
• Do NOT count toward Divisional qualification, Invitational qualification, High Point Awards, Time Improvement ribbons, Triple Drop ribbons, or Fast Fishy awards