Meet Desk v1.1

Sim rules: how this simulator works

The meet announcement on the Pre-meet tab is the made-up meet’s information sheet. These rules are the conditions the simulator runs under. Some are simplified, and a few are this pool’s setup. At a real meet, follow your referee and the meet announcement.

Timing setup

• Daktronics OmniSport 2000 Pro console with touchpads, two buttons per lane and two watches per lane. Console splits are off. BTN 3 is always 0.00 because this pool runs two buttons.
• The console’s Backup column is the two buttons averaged with the thousandths dropped. The console’s math is always right.
• An asterisk next to a console time means the buttons didn’t validate the pad: no pad, no buttons, or pad and backup more than 0.30 apart. No asterisk means the pad is good. An asterisk means work the flowchart.
• Times import into Meet Manager as pad times. Accept adjusted uses the Button Calc on lanes checked in Use, the way Hy-Tek’s Time Adjustment window does. It’s usually right, but not always. Lanes are flagged the way Meet Manager colors them: y (backup 0.31+ faster than the pad), b (backup 0.31+ slower, or no backup), g (split buttons), and pink for any single button 0.31+ off the pad.

Validating times (OSI Time Verification flowchart, 10/2026)

• “Confirms” and “valid” mean another time within about 0.30 seconds. Work down the chart and only reach for the watches when you need them.
• (1) At least one button confirms the pad → use the pad. (2) The buttons confirm each other and are faster than the pad → use the button average. (3) One or both watches confirm one button, and it’s faster than the pad → use that button. (4) The watches confirm each other and are faster than the pad → use the watch average. (5) At least one watch confirms the pad → use the pad. (6) Otherwise collect the order of finish and the coach’s time, and use best judgment.
• If the pad is invalid or missing, “faster than pad” doesn’t apply.
• Pad invalid, the buttons don’t confirm each other, and both watches confirm the same button → use that button.
• Pad invalid, the buttons don’t confirm each other, the watches don’t confirm each other, but each watch confirms a different button → use the button average.
• No pad and no buttons: average the watches and drop the thousandths (2:00.21 and 2:00.15 make 2:00.18). Write the average on the sheet and type it into Meet Manager.
• Heat malfunction (102.23.4E): when the console starts late, every pad and button in the heat is short by the same amount. Use the heat malfunction worksheet. Good lanes are ones where a button confirms the pad and the watches confirm each other. Average the watch-minus-pad differences from the good lanes, drop the thousandths, and add that to each lane’s verified pad. Lanes whose buttons don’t confirm the pad use the button average plus the adjustment. If nothing confirms but the watches agree, use the watch average with no adjustment. Tell the referee.

Marking the Time Verification sheet (OSI)

The Time Verification sheet is the console store-print. Pick a mark from the pencil tray (or use Auto), then tap the time.

• A second ✓ in a lane moves the check. Two marked answers in one lane is what slows down data entry.
• At the bottom, write Full if every seeded lane swam, otherwise the lane codes (like NS3), and initial the sheet.
• Keys: C check, D dot, S strike, E eraser, A auto, Ctrl-Z undo, F flowchart. On a tablet, just tap. The Flowchart button on the pencil tray pops up the time verification chart any time you need it.

DQ and DFS slips

• The referee collects and signs DQ slips, then drops them in your basket after the first heat of the next event. Some arrive after the event is published.
• Verify the slip against the console heat sheet: swimmer and team, event, heat and lane, and the referee’s signature. If anything is off, return it to the referee. Don’t initial it.
• For a good slip: (1) initial the top corner. (2) On the console heat sheet, strike the swimmer’s name and write DQ beside it. (3) On the Time Verification sheet, strike the lane and write DQ (tap the lane number). (4) Staple the slip to the back of that sheet, facing backward. (5) Check the DQ box in Meet Manager and pick the infraction. Steps 2–4 are in the heat review. Late slips mean going back to a sheet you already checked.
• A declared false start (DFS) isn’t a DQ or an NS. Mark it DFS on the sheet and in Meet Manager, and staple the form to the back.
• Wait for an event’s slips before publishing. Any change after publishing means you publish again.

Check-in, scratches and seeding

• Timed finals. Events under 400 yards are pre-seeded and posted. Events 400 and over are deck seeded: positive check-in closes 30 minutes after warm-ups start, they swim fast to slow, and girls’ and boys’ heats alternate.
• Entries are already imported, so everyone entered is in the event. Swimmers initial the Meet Check-In Report. In Scratch Pad, scratch everyone who didn’t initial. You remove swimmers, you don’t add them.
• The check-in report wins: a swimmer who initialed is swimming, even if Meet Manager shows them scratched from a pre-meet email. A coach’s scratch form that arrives after check-in still gets scratched.
• Run the scratch report after your last change to verify the scratches, then seed. Re-seeding uses timed-final seeding: fastest heat last, fastest swimmers in the center lanes, and at least three swimmers in the first heat when possible.
• Whenever an event is seeded or re-seeded on deck, print it again: lane timer sheets, the referee-format and console-format heat sheets, and counting sheets for distance events. Counting sheets are fine to print anytime.
• A coach’s scratch on a pre-seeded event leaves an empty lane. Don’t re-seed unless the referee tells you to. It’s SCR, not NS, even if you get to it after the heat swims.
• A swimmer who doesn’t show for their heat is a no-show (NS). A stray pad hit in an empty lane doesn’t count.
• When the referee says a swimmer swam in a different lane or heat, move the swimmer, not the time. The time stays with the lane, and an NS or DQ moves with the swimmer.

Printing

• Console format: double column, 1 event per page. Referee format: double column, 1 event per page, heat start times. Regular heat sheet: double column, all events, no heat start times. Every heat sheet shows empty lanes, entry times and a line for results.
• Print the session report for the referee and announcer.

Results, scoring and awards

• Scored by gender and age group (8&U, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15&O): 13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Mixed events swim together and score separately.
• Every couple of events, score the published events: check every DQ and no-swim against the Time Verification sheets, then print two copies (one to post, one for the meet file).
• Ribbons go 1st–12th for 8&U, 9-10 and 11-12. Filter award labels to those groups, not the high-point groups (9&U, 10) or the event age groups (10&U, 12&U). 13&O gets no ribbons.
• Meet Manager is the official record. Each lane’s Result holds the time source or a code: NS, DNF or DFS. The DQ check box keeps the time and asks for the infraction.

End of session

• After every session: push results to Meet Mobile, back up Meet Manager to the laptop and a flash drive, and bundle each event (Results, console heat sheet, Time Verification sheets in heat order, lane timer sheets, starter/deck referee sheets).

The clock

• The meet runs on its own clock. Each heat takes as long as its slowest swimmer, plus a gap: 30 seconds in AO mode, 20 seconds in Lead AO. Finished heats line up at your desk. The pool never waits for you, except for a check-in event that isn’t seeded yet. Use Pause and the speed control as you need.

Simplified for training. Rule numbers follow the 2026 USA Swimming rulebook (102.23 Timing Rules). Marking and DQ paperwork follow Oregon Swimming’s OSI training material. Follow your referee at a real meet.