USA Swimming has published the criteria that will be used to select the team that will represent the United States at the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Championships at Kihei Aquatic Center in Maui from August 24-27, 2016. (The document can be found here.)
The 2016 Junior Pan Pacs team will be selected based on the final placings in each event at the qualifying meet, which this year will be the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, held June 26-July 3, 2016 in Omaha, Nebraska.
The big change this time around, however, is that the athletes will have to be between the ages of 13-18 years as of December 31, 2016 in order to swim at Junior Pan Pacs. Athletes who turn 19 in the fall of 2016 will no longer be eligible to compete. Specifically, only athletes born in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, or 2003 will be eligible to swim at Junior Pan Pacs in 2016.
The change in USA Swimming’s selection criteria came about because the Pan Pac nations voted to change age qualification to birth year from age at time of competition, as had been allowed in the past. In this way, the countries have chosen to align themselves with the way FINA defines “juniors,” such as at the recent Junior World Championships.
The team will consist of a maximum of 20 women and 20 men, who must qualify through one of these three priorities:
- The first placing swimmer in each event based on final results at Trials, as well as the second placing swimmer in the 100 and 200 freestyles;
- The second placing swimmer in each of the events based on final results, except in the 100 and 200 freestyles;
- The third placing swimmer in each of the events based on final results.
The process will continue (through fourth, fifth, and six placing swimmers only) until a team of 20 women and 20 men is selected. If there are more than 20 swimmers of each gender after the “Priority 2” round, the swimmers from that round will be sorted by World Ranking. Those with the highest rankings will be invited to join the team.
The 2016 Junior Pan Pacs team will be announced on July 11th, 2016.