There will be a 15 min warm up time from 9:00 am, where swimmers can use their schools allocated lane to warm up.  (No student will be permitted near the finish pads).

An opening address by the President of SACCSS will be given at 9:20 am.

All school officials are to be at the centre by 9:00 am, and meet in the Meet Directors room, located on the far side of the pool at the finish end (between the control room and the marshalling room.).

The carnival shall be run under the auspices of Swim Victoria.  The rules will be those of Swimming Victoria.

Competitors will compete in lanes allocated.  Colleges will be advised of their lanes via their Head of Sport.

Three categories exist; Junior, Intermediate and Senior.  The Junior competition involves the 13 years and 14 years age groups, the Intermediate competition involves the 15 years and 16 years age groups and the Senior competition includes the 17 – 20 years.

Promotion/Relegation

The competition will be further divided into two divisions, they are determined on the previous year’s results via a points based seeding system using the overall placings for each of the 3 categories for each school. Points are allocated as follows;

1st = 2 points
2nd = 4 points
3rd = 6 points etc 

The two schools with the highest average across all 3 categories in Division 1 will be relegated to Division 2. The two schools with the lowest average in Division 2 will be promoted to Division 1.  For 2024 they are:

Point System

The point system will be as follows:

Events

Events shall be:

Awards

The age for competition shall be taken from the 31st of December 2024
Protests regarding events shall be lodged by the school’s Head of Sport in writing with the Executive Officer of SACCSS within 10 minutes of the announcement of the result of the disputed event. Such protests shall be decided by the Vic Swim Officials. The result of the protest shall be forwarded to the particular Head of Sport as soon as the result has been determined.

Pennants shall be awarded to the winning school in the following categories:

A Perpetual Trophy is awarded to the winning school in the following categories:

A Medallion is awarded to the leading swimmer in each of the following age groups:

The medallion shall be awarded for the best individual four swims of an individual.
An individual is permitted to swim in a total of five swims.

– A competitor shall compete in their own age group, except where an event is not offered at a particular age group. Students can compete in a higher age group provided they remain in that age group for all events – except relays.

– Each college shall provide competent adults and students to act as officials in the capacity determined by the Executive Officer. These persons are not to engage in coaching, team management, etc., during the running of the Carnival.

– Seats for spectators are allocated to each school on a basis of number of competitors for each school.

– All competitors are to swim in competition bathers and school swim cap (no board shorts/ running shorts).

– Names of students competing outside their age group are to be given to the Executive Officer prior to the commencement of the championships.

– Heads of Sport are to report to Meet Director’s room at the start of the relay events to confirm the individual champion’s results.

– A male and female representative from each College is to be present on the concourse with their school banner during the presentation ceremony at the conclusion of the event.

Competition Rules

All events will run according to the rules of Swimming Victoria.
All students should be familiar with the starting instructions listed below.

Starting Instructions
Freestyle, Breaststroke, Butterfly and Individual Medley

On the long whistle, swimmers shall step onto the starting platform and remain there.

On the starters command “Take your Marks”, they will immediately take up a starting position with at least one foot at the start of the starting platform. The position of the hand is not relevant.

When all swimmers are stationary, the starter will give the starting signal.

Backstroke and Medley races
At the referee’s first long whistle, the swimmers shall immediately enter the water.

At the referee’s second long whistle, the swimmers shall return without undue delay to the starting position.

When all swimmers have assumed their starting positions, the starter shall give the command “take your marks”.

When all swimmers are stationary, the starter will give the starting signal.

Any swimmer starting before the starting signal has been given shall be disqualified.

The swimmers head must break the surface of the water with 15 m of the start and any subsequent turn.

End of the Race
Butterfly and Breaststroke: both hands must simultaneously touch the finish pad.
Swimmers remain in the water until the referees whistle sounds.

All swimmers leave the water and line up in order with the finish marshal who will take you to the recorders table.

Ribbons will be awarded to 1st – 3rd places.

Medley Order
Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly and Freestyle