What is a Heat Sheet?

The Heat Sheet is the printed event list that tells swimmers, coaches, judges, ready bench, and others what events the swimmers will compete in. It also defines the swimmer's lane assignment. Lanes are typically assigned based on seed times, with the fastest swimmers in the first heats and in the center lanes of the pool. Events are listed in order, usually alternating girls and boys events. 

Sample Individual Event from a Heat Sheet:

Seed time is the fastest recorded time a swimmer or team of swimmers has swum an event prior to the submission of entries for the meet. For individuals, this is the time entered for the swimmer for the event, and is a good goal to try to beat. An “NT” listed for seed time means no seed time has yet been recorded for that swimmer, i.e. that swimmer has not competed in that event, or was disqualified during the event.

Relays are similar, but with multiple swimmers, the swimmer order must also be defined. Relay medleys are swum in order: 1) Backstroke, 2) Breaststroke, 3) Butterfly, 4) Freestyle. Accordingly, in the relay event below, Remiya will swim the backstroke, Jenny the breaststroke, Hannah the butterfly, and Stormie the freestyle. They will swim in Heat 1, Lane 4. Their team has not yet received a legal seed time, so they have “NT.” This team is in the age group that each swims one length of the pool per stroke, or 25 yards, each, which is reflected in the 100 yard total event distance. Swimmers 1 and 3 will start at the Timer End of the pool and Swimmers 2 and 4 will start at the Bench End of the pool. This ensures the swimmers are in the correct order and locations to finish the race at the timers.