The Winter meeting of the PVS Competition Committee was called to order by Steve Ercolano, Senior Chairman. Present were:

General Announcements/ Information

The Chair apologized for the confusion about the time of the meeting. The Chair asked coaches to submit their e-mail addresses to assist in future communications.

Competition Division

The 1999 short course yards Senior Championships were discussed:

• PDR, Foxcatcher, and TAR were extended invitations and they have accepted.
• City of Charleston asked for an invitation. They have no history of competing in PVS. The Competition Committee approved their participating.

The following was approved by the Competition Committee for the 1999 SCY Senior Champs:

Swimmers who have at minimum one (1) qualifying time may swim a bonus event. They must have at minimum the PVS Junior Champs qualifying time for their bonus event. It was noted by the Chair that if a swimmer achieves the Senior Championship qualifying time in the bonus event they are precluded from swimming that event at Junior Champs.

The Zone Team Application was amended:

It was noted that due to an administrative error the qualifying period for 13 and above swimmers did not include swims from the PVS Junior Championships. It has been amended to now include swims through the PVS Junior Championships.

Old Business

PVS Zone Team Preperations
Greg York spoke on behalf of the Zone Team Staff. He indicated that there had been no meetings of the staff to discuss any pre-Zone Meet events for PVS Swimmers. Some members of the staff had discussed doing something in February or March that would involve the top 4 PVS applicants in each event. The Competition Committee discussed there being a camp the weekend of Senior Champs at Oak Marr between trials and finals. The focus would be on 12 and under swimmers. Dick Rankin reminded the Competition Committee that the concept is to have camps in January/ February prior to the team selection.

12 & Under Recognition
Kim Guthrie was no present to give her report

Distance Committee
The distance committee of Manga Dalizu, Mark Eldridge, Steve Ercolano, Bill Marlin, Pete Morgan, and Dave Tonnessen has no meet since being formed in September. Dave Tonnessen was named committee chair.

New Business
Proposed 1999 PVS Long Course Schedule
Addition of a 14 and Under Championship. This would replace the 12 & Under Championships and be swum the weekend following Senior Champs. It would be a timed final meet. There was concern about the length of the sessions and the Chair indicated that the meet could be two sessions per day (12 & U, 13-14) if the historical numbers showed a need. Dick Rankin raised the issue of how this would affect the PVS Competition Budget. The Chair responded that the present Competition Budget could absorb this meet.

The proposed 1999 PVS Long Course Schedule was accepted by the Competition Committee.

The following club meets were added to the schedule:

Proposed 1999-2000 PVS Fall/Winter Schedule
The October Open will be a 3 day meet. Friday will be the 12 & Under 500 free and Open 1000 free. Friday sessions are not to exceed 3 hours. Swimmers will have a 7 event maximum, no more than 3 in a day.

The dates of the November Open are dependent upon the dates for the World Cup Meet at Maryland. The Chair did not want to run an event in opposition to the World Cup Meet and pu PVS swimmers, officials, coaches, and volunteers put in a conflict.

The impact of the new Club Championships which go into effect in 2001 were discussed. It was noted by the Chair the earliest any plan from USA-Swimming would be in September at Convention. At that point the Zone would than make its plans. The idea of having the PVS SCY Senior Champs be moved to late January or early February was made by Pete Morgan.

The proposed 1999-2000 PVS Fall/Winter Schedule was accepted by the Competition Committee.

The following club meets were added to the schedule (pending a draft meet announcement):

All draft meet announcements are due to the Senior Chairman by February 2, 1999.

Competition Policy
The Chair asked for opinions as to when is a reasonable cut-off date for events to be added to the PVS schedule. It was discussed that the Long Course schedule be set in January and any additions can be made up to the Spring Competition Committee meeting.

The Short Course Yards schedule should be set in January with additions accepted through the September Competition Committee meeting. Concern was expressed by Chris Huott of MSSC about events being added beyond September and their impact on previously scheduled events.

Disabled Athletes
Clubs with disabled swimmers should identify them to Marc Stanley.

General Coaches Requests
How are mult-site meet asssignements made? The Chair indicated that Operations made these decisions and that facilty size, club geographic position, entry numbers, etc. all play a part in making the decision. The Chair noted that clubs are asked to indicate their potential participation in these meets and that they often exceed these amounts.

Could all meets in PVS be listed on the PVS schedule? It was asked that PVS name its meets in a standardized format. Make note on the PVS schedule of events that are open to all athletes and closed.

Can meet entry due dates be standardized? Concern was raised about due dates on days other than a Tuesday and being due more than 10 days out of the event. It was noted by Mark Eldridge that he needs the extra week for the Maryland State Meet to communicate to out-of-town teams if they can participate.

The splash fee for dual meets was discussed. There was concern that 200 or more splashes was too few for a dual meet and that the minimum be raised to 500 splashes. The affect this has upon the PVS revenue base was discussed.