Place Points + Improvement Points = Team Score

OK-- so it's half math and half swimming, but we live in the Silicon Valley, so we can figure it out.

The Valley Cabana Swim League places equal emphasis on place points and on improved times.  In full tranparency, other places don't make up an algorithm for scores in swimming, but it makes our cabana league a little extra fun, so let's roll with it...

Teams are awarded place points for 1st through 5th place times in individual events and 1st and 2nd place for relay events. 

But to make sure everyone is pulling their weight, all swimmers can still help the team regardless of place.  Athletes can help earn team points by improving their personal best time.  If an athlete best time is a 30.00 and then swims a 29.99 the next week, then that counts as an improved time!  The team’s total number of improved times is converted to a percentage and added to the place points to determine the winning team.

STEP 1: PLACE POINTS

Place points for each event are awarded as follows:

Individual Events

• 1st place - 6 points
• 2nd place - 4 points
• 3rd place - 3 points
• 4th place - 2 points
• 5th place - 1 point

Relay Events

• 1st place - 12 points
• 2nd place - 8 points

STEP 2: REAL MATH ON EARNED POINTS

Each team can score a maximum of 1,136 points.  Each team’s points are converted to a percentage by dividing the team’s total place points by the total possible (1,136) and then multiplying by 100 and rounding to the nearest tenth of a percent.

For example, say our Sharks swimmers score a total of 700 place points. 700 divided by 1,136 is 61.62 percent, so we would get 61.6 place points.

STEP 3: ADD IMPROVEMENT POINTS

Every swimmer who improves his/her entry time in any individual event receives 1 point.

The team’s total number of improvement points is converted to a percentage by dividing by the total number of entries, then multiplying by 100 and rounding to the nearest tenth of a percent.

For example, at a typical Sharks swim meet there are a total of about 400 individual entries. If 200 of those are improved times, then that is a 50 percent improvement rate, which would translate to 50.0 points for the team.

Relays are not scored for improved times.

STEP 4: COMBINED TEAM SCORE

Continuing with the example, we’d add 61.6 (place points) plus 50.0 (improvement points) for a total score of 111.6. 

The team with the highest combined score wins.