New schedule for YAIAA swimming championships

The upcoming YAIAA swimming and diving championships will take place a week earlier this year, and like the Mid-Penn Conference, the there will be three weeks between the YAIAA meet and the District 3 championships.

In previous years, with the notable exception of the weather-affected 2014 event, the YAIAA held it's championship meet at Central York two weeks prior to districts, on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, but even that will be different in 2015.

On Wednesday, Feb. 4, the YAIAA divers will take to the pool at Central, beginning at 6 p.m. for their championship meet with district spots on the line.

On Thursday, Feb. 5 at Central York, the first two swimming sessions will take place, although I will get more details on which gender starts opens the meet and what the warm-up times will be. The competition for Session 1 begins at 6 p.m. sharp. Upon conclusion, the gallery will be cleared for Session 2.

The second day of the swimming is Friday, Feb. 6, when Sessions 3 and 4 will take place, under the same time format as the previous day. I will provide a more specific breakdown of the two days when I have it.

The 2015 District 3 championships will be Friday, Feb. 27 and Saturday, Feb. 28, at Cumberland Valley High School.

Reactions to the change have been mixed, and many thanks to Central York Aquatics Club president Karl Peckmann for correcting me on my previous when I incorrectly stated that one of the reasons for the Thursday-Friday schedule is that Central's pool is not available on Saturday, Feb. 7. While the pool is occupied for the local club league championships on that Saturday, that event date was not finalized until after the YAIAA set it's championships schedule.

Now, I did hear that in case of a weather issues the pool will be made available on Feb. 7 for the YAIAA championships with the age group championships likely going to Sunday the 8th.

Of course, everyone involved, myself included, is hoping for better weather for the 2015 championships. Last year, both the diving, which was slated for Thursday, and the first night of swimming, which was to be Friday, had to be postponed to Saturday.

The day started with diving in the morning, followed by four swimming sessions. I arrived at Central before 9 a.m. and didn't leave the pool until after 11 p.m. It was a long day to say the least.