In New York, girls are allowed to participate on boys’ high school swim teams during the winter season if they cannot participate on their school’s girls’ team in the fall because of another sport. This creates a unique roster and meet-management situation—one that requires a specific setup to keep results accurate and allows for proper championship meet entries.
This guide explains exactly how to set up your roster and meet events in Swimcloud so that these athletes’ results flow correctly into regional top-times lists, club profiles, and future meet entries.
Why This Requires Special Handling
Historically (before the 2025-26 season), we recommended adding these athletes to your roster as girls and marking dual-meet events as Mixed.
However, after working with hundreds of New York teams, this approach has proven problematic, leading to:
Difficulty with Championship meet entries
Incorrect scoring in dual meets
Athletes appearing in the wrong top-times lists
To prevent these issues, Swimcloud now recommends a clearer, cleaner method.
Step-by-Step: How to Set Up Girls Swimming on Boys’ Teams
1️⃣ Create the Swimmer’s Roster Profile as “Male”
Even though the athlete is female, you should create a new high school-season profile for her as a boy for the winter boys’ season.
This allows:
Correct entry into boys’ events
Proper Championship meet entries and seeding
Accurate scoring
Correct placement in New York boys’ regional top-times lists
✔️ This is the key step that ensures everything works smoothly during the winter season.
2️⃣ Run Your Meets Normally (No Mixed Events Required)
Once the swimmer is listed as "Male" on your school team’s roster:
You can use a standard boys’ event list
No special mixed-event setup is required
Seeding and scoring will follow normal boys’ meet rules
Results will match properly with the athlete’s temporary winter-season profile
3️⃣ After the Boys’ Season Ends — Ask Swimcloud to Merge the Profiles
After the NY boy's high school winter swim season ends, female club swimmers who have a boy's Swimcloud profile need to ask Swimcloud to merge their two profiles.
To merge the temporary “boys-season” profile into her correct “girls/club” profile, email:
Please include:
The swimmer’s temporary boys-season profile ID
The swimmer’s correct girls/club profile ID
Where to Find the Swimmer ID
Each Swimcloud profile contains an ID number located under the athlete’s name.
Swimcloud support will merge the profiles so:
All history remains intact
Results flow back into the proper gender
Long-term data stays clean and accurate
No duplicates remain in the system
Frequently Asked Questions
Why not keep the swimmer marked as “Female” and use mixed events?
Because using mixed events during the season breaks too many things:
Mixed events do not seed or score correctly in many meet formats
Historical times in mixed events are challenging for Championship Meet entries
Times may appear in the wrong top-times lists
Results often fail to match to athlete profiles
Will this affect college recruitment visibility?
No. Once the profile merge is completed at the end of the winter season, the athlete’s full, accurate history is visible on her female profile.
Do I need to make these changes every year?
Yes—but the merge process is quick and handled by Swimcloud support.
Summary (Coaches’ Quick Version)
For New York girls swimming on boys’ teams in the winter:
Add the swimmer as “Male” on your winter boys’ roster.
Run meets normally — no Mixed events needed.
After the season, send both profile IDs to Swimcloud so we can merge them.
This process gives you correct seeding, scoring, top-times placement, and clean long-term profiles.