Heat Sheets
Generate and manage heat sheets for your swim meets.
Overview
Heat sheets are the organized lineup of swimmers for each event. They show which swimmers compete in which heat and lane, seeded by their qualifying times. SwimMeet Pro automatically generates heat sheets using intelligent seeding algorithms.
Generating Heats
Create heats automatically after all entries are added:
To generate heats for your meet:
- Complete all event entries
- Navigate to the meet details page
- Click "Generate Heats" button
- System automatically:
- Seeds swimmers by time (fastest in finals)
- Creates appropriate number of heats
- Assigns lanes (fastest in center)
- Handles alternating assignments
- Review and adjust if needed
- Publish heat sheets
Seeding Patterns
Understanding how swimmers are placed:
Fastest to Slowest:
- 1st fastest → Lane 4
- 2nd fastest → Lane 5
- 3rd fastest → Lane 3
- 4th fastest → Lane 6
- 5th fastest → Lane 2
- 6th fastest → Lane 7
- 7th fastest → Lane 1
- 8th fastest → Lane 8
(Pattern adjusts for 6-lane or 10-lane pools)
Swimmers grouped into heats:
- Final Heat: Top swimmers
- Second-to-last: Next fastest
- Earlier Heats: Progressively slower
- First Heat: Slowest seeds
Heat size optimized based on total entries
No Seed Times (NT)
Handling swimmers without qualifying times:
When swimmers don't have seed times (marked NT - No Time):
- Placed in earlier heats before seeded swimmers
- Randomly assigned within NT group
- Still receive center lane preference in their heat
- Common for new swimmers or new events
Manual Adjustments
Fine-tune heat sheets after generation:
After automatic generation, you can make adjustments:
Move Swimmers Between Heats:
- Drag and drop to different heats
- Useful for special circumstances
- Maintain fairness when possible
Change Lane Assignments:
- Swap swimmers between lanes
- Accommodate special needs
- Balance team representation
Combine or Split Heats:
- Merge small heats for efficiency
- Split large heats if needed
- Optimize meet flow
Exporting Heat Sheets
Generate professional PDF heat sheets:
Generate and download heat sheets as PDF:
- Click "Export Heat Sheet" button
- Select format options:
- All events or specific events
- Include/exclude seed times
- Show team names
- Header customization
- Generate PDF
- Download or print
PDF Includes:
- Meet name and date
- Event details (number, distance, stroke)
- Heat and lane assignments
- Swimmer names and teams
- Seed times
- Professional formatting
Heat Sheet Formats
Different layouts for different purposes:
Traditional heat sheet layout:
- One event per page
- All heats listed
- Clear lane assignments
- Easy to read poolside
Space-saving layout:
- Multiple events per page
- Smaller font
- Less paper
- Overview format
Organized by team:
- Swimmers grouped by team
- Shows all team entries
- Useful for coaches
- Team warmup planning
On-screen viewing:
- Responsive design
- Mobile-friendly
- Real-time updates
- No printing needed
Publishing Heat Sheets
Share heat sheets with participants:
Once heats are finalized:
- Email Distribution: Send PDF to all teams
- Download Link: Share download URL
- Print Copies: Distribute at venue
- Post Online: Team website or app
- Display Screens: Show at pool
Best Practices
- ✓Finalize all entries before generating heats
- ✓Use the best available seed times for accurate seeding
- ✓Review generated heats for any obvious errors
- ✓Minimize manual adjustments to maintain fairness
- ✓Publish heat sheets early to allow scratch time
- ✓Bring printed copies to the pool as backup
- ✓Consider pool layout when assigning warm-up times
- ✓Archive final heat sheets with meet results