High School Swimming

The intention of this page is to provide insight into the world of high school swimming within San Antonio, surrounding areas, and Texas.

The University Interscholastic League (UIL) will consist of all public schools in Texas. There are 3 conferences: 4A, 5A, and 6A. Each school is placed in the appropriate division based on the size of the school. The most up to date alignments of what conference/district/region each school falls in can be found on the UIL website.

Prior to the championship season, UIL swimming & diving teams will compete in local or out of town dual meets, tri meets, and pentathlon meets. These meets allow swimmers to improve their times and move up the ranks within their districts and regions.  These in-season meets, along with club meets for club swimmers, allow swimmers to qualify for a meet in mid-to-late November and early December called TISCA (Texas Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association) Championships. There are several TISCA meets hosted that have different qualifying times, all of which can be found within the meet information here.  The most popular TISCA meet in the San Antonio area is the South Zone TISCA Champs meet where the time standards can be very challenging.

Here is a general overview of the championship meet progression for UIL schools:

1) District Meets

• District meets are held separately within each of the school Districts

2) Regional Meets

• 5A & 6A: The top 6 individuals & relays from the District meet qualify for the Regional meet.
• 4A & below: The top 4 individuals & relays from the District meet qualify for the Regional meet.

3) State Meets

• 5A & 6A: The 1st place and 2nd place in each of 8 regional swimming meets qualify, and then the next 8 swimmers with the best regional final times overall will advance to the state meet. These additional 8 swimmers are often referred to as "call-ups".
• 4A & below: The 1st place and 2nd place in each of 4 regional swimming meets qualify, and and the next 8 swimmers with the best regional final times overall will advance to the state meet. These additional 8 swimmers are often referred to as "call-ups".

The championship structure information can be found on the UIL website.

The TAPPS (Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools) will consist of all private and parochial schools in Texas. There are 3 divisons: Division I, Division II, and Division III. Each TAPPS school has a classification (1A-6A), a Division, and a District, all of which can be found in the swim codes from TAPPS website.

Prior to the championship season, TAPPS swimming & diving teams will compete in local or out of town dual meets, tri meets, and pentathlon meets. These meets allow swimmers to improve their times and move up the ranks within their region and divisions. These in-season meets, along with club meets for club swimmers, allow swimmers to qualify for a meet in mid-to-late November and early December called TISCA (Texas Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association) Championships. There are several TISCA meets hosted that have different qualifying times, all of which can be found within the meet information here.  The most popular TISCA meet in the San Antonio area is the South Zone TISCA Champs meet where the time standards can be very challenging.

Here is a general overview of the championship meet progression for TAPPS schools:

1) Regional Meets

• The Region meets are scored by Division and are hosted by District

2) State Meets

• The top 3 fastest times for each event from each Region will advance to the State Meet. The next fastest 7 times from all three regions will also advance to State. No swimmer will advance to state with a time slower than the Upper Limit Qualifying Times listed on the TAPPS website.
• The state meet is scored by Division.