The 2026 NCS Open Water State Championship meet will be May 29-30 at Seven Lakes in West End, NC (Lake Echo). Thank you to New Wave Swim Team for Hosting this Championship Meet.
OFFICIALS OPPORTUNITY: Open Water Judge/ Referee Clinic with Jim Riggs Saturday May 30, 2026 – For more information on how to get involved contact Jim Riggs- jsriggs11@gmail.com
Officials Clinic Saturday – 5/30/2025 – Open Water Lake Echo – Jim Riggs 980-291-5003 Clinic in conjunction with apprenticing at the event. Clinic at mid-day Judge/Referee Seven Lakes, West End, NC jsriggs11@gmail.com Refer to OW Clinic Training on NCS at: OpenWater Meet Information NCS Open Water Officials Clinic Notes
New Wave has volunteered to run this meet and is seeking others to help out to create a successful NCS OW Championship event. If interested in helping with the meet please Contact Jon Bescher 919-320-4998 Email: coachbesch@newwaveswimteam.org
The OW Committee heard the feedback, and have made adjustments to a transition plan bridging the 2026 Open Water Select Camp Selection Process. Please review below.
2026 Open Water Select Camp – Selected from 2026 NCS OW Champs, OW Zone Meet, OW Juniors/OW Nationals (see point chart below). A swimmer’s age group for camp will be determined by the swimmer’s age at the NCS Open Water Championships.
Automatic Qualifiers: The top (5) placing swimmers for each gender in the following events at the NCS Open Water Championships will automatically qualify for the 2026 Open Water Select Camp:
· 11-12 2K
· 13-14 3K
· 15-18 5K
An additional (3) swimmers in each age group will be selected to camp through the points system below, for a total of (8) swimmers per gender in each age group (11-12, 13-14, 15-18). A swimmer may not be in college at the time of the Select Camp. In such a case, the next highest finishing swimmers will be selected up to the tenth-place finisher.
| OW Nationals* | OW Jr. Nats* | OW Zone Meet* | NCS OW Champs | |
| Participation | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Additional Pts. | ||||
| Top 24 | 1 | |||
| Top 16 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Top 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Win | Automatic | Automatic | 4 | 2 |
*Update for 2026: Swimmers who competed and placed in the newly established knockout races at this year’s OW National, OW Junior National, or OW Zone meet receive separate/additional points for placement in those races, in addition to points earned via the individual 2K/5K.
OW Coordinator: Rachel Muller, Email: rachel.muller@ymcatriangle.org
