An observed meet is one conducted other than under USA Swimming technical rules (e.g., high school, collegiate, YMCA, etc.). If high school, the meet must be in the championship progression; if collegiate, the meet must be in the qualifying progression for the season-culminating championship. In order for times from such meets to be used for USA Swimming purposes, a request must be made to Pacific Swimming for observation of such meets under its jurisdiction using Request for Observation - Form B. Requests for observation of meets that are not season-culminating championships may be granted only in limited circumstances and will require acceptance by the designated Pacific NTV Officer and approval from the USA Swimming Program Operations Vice-President or a designee, and must be requested on Request for Observation - Form A.

PROCEDURE

1. Submit the appropriate Request for Observation form (above) to the Pacific Swimming designated Committee Chair (Form B for high school league and sectional championship meets to Elias Totah; Form A for collegiate meets to Phil Harter; all others to Millie Nygren) at least 10 days prior to the meet. The form may be submitted by email and followed up with a signed copy. If necessary, refer to the current Pacific Swim Guide or the Board of Directors page of the Pacific web site for email or snailmail address information. Please provide telephone numbers and/or email address in order to facilitate communication. It is the policy of Pacific Swimming that all observed meets shall be "blanket observed," i.e. all swims shall be observed; requests for observation are not required. If the Request for Observation form is not submitted 10 days prior to the meet, every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate the meet, but observing the meet cannot be guaranteed.

2. When the Request for Observation form is approved and signed by the appropriate approving officers listed above, the form will be forwarded to the Designated Pacific NTV Officer (Millie Nygren) for recording and reporting to USA Swimming. A copy of the approved Request for Observation form will be sent by the NTV Officer to the Meet Director, Meet Referee, and listed USA Swimming officials who will be the observers.

3. At the meet each observing USA Swimming official shall be provided with a copy of the heat sheets for each event being observed. Any swims not in compliance with USA Swimming technical rules shall be:

1. Marked on the heat sheets as a "DQ" with the infraction number or explanation of the infraction, or
2. Shown on copies of DQ slips, or
3. Detailed in a MS Word document listing the event number, stroke and distance and reason for the DQ, all signed by the observing officials.

Upon request, and although not a rules requirement, notification of any swims not accepted due to USA Swimming technical rule violations should be provided to the swimmers involved.

4. At the end of the meet, the following shall be sent to the Designated Pacific NTV Officer:

1. Copies of the signed heat sheets, DQ slips, or Microsoft Word document documenting disqualifications, signed by the USA Swimming observers;
2. A digital copy (MS Word or HTML preferred) of the complete results of the meet;
3. A digital file of the complete results in SDIF format (.CL2 or .SD3);
4. A list of the participating high schools with their names, cities, and abbreviations used in the meet (this is very helpful in identifying the swimmers in the USA Swimming SWIMS database).

5. Upon receipt of the above documentation, eligible times will be loaded into the USA Swimming SWIMS database for identified swimmers currently registered. Swimmers who subsequently register with USA Swimming may have their eligible times entered into the SWIMS database upon request, provided adequate information is provided for the time requested (name, date of birth, stroke, distance, time achieved, preliminaries or finals).

(Last revised September 28, 2009)