One of the most powerful tools in Competition Corner is the ability to re-seed athletes — reassigning them to new heats based on live data from your event. Done well, it elevates the competitive experience, creates more exciting head-to-head matchups in the final heats, and keeps your floor running efficiently throughout the day.
Why Re-Seed?
Re-seeding isn't just about putting the top athletes together — though that's a big part of it. There are several reasons you might reorganise heats during your event:
Performance-based seeding — rank athletes by their current standings so the top performers compete head-to-head in the final heats. This is what creates those memorable last-heat showdowns that athletes and spectators love.
Pace-based seeding — group athletes with similar completion times or expected performance levels together. This keeps heats moving at a consistent pace, avoids bottlenecks where slower athletes are still on the floor when the next heat is supposed to start, and prevents the end of the day from blowing out.
No-show management — consolidate remaining athletes after withdrawals or no-shows to keep your heats full and your floor utilised efficiently.
End-of-day re-seeding for multi-day events — re-organise divisions overnight so the next day opens with athletes already seeded by the previous day's standings.
When you do it is up to you — some events re-seed after every workout, others do it once at the end of each day. The process is the same either way; the only difference is your timing.
Timing Is Everything
The biggest mistake with re-seeding is leaving it too late. If you wait until the current workout is fully complete before starting the re-seed, you create a backlog — athletes are standing around waiting for their new heat assignment while the clock ticks.
The key is to use the natural stagger between divisions. In a typical multi-division event, divisions compete sequentially — Scaled finishes, then Masters, then Rx. As soon as one division steps off the floor and scores are verified, you can begin re-seeding that division while the next division is competing. By the time that division finishes, the re-seed for the previous division is already done.
Scaled competing Masters competing Rx competing Reseeding window
In the example above, as soon as Scaled finishes Event 1, the re-seed for Event 2 begins immediately — while Masters is still competing. By the time Rx finishes, all three divisions are already reseeded and ready. No waiting, no backlog.
Preparation: Set Up Blank Heats in Advance
Before competition starts, set up blank heat structures for the heats you plan to re-seed — the right number of heats, the right number of lanes, but no athletes assigned yet. This means when it's time to re-seed, you're not building the framework under pressure. You just drag athletes in.
Re-Seeding: Fast in Practice
Once scores are in and verified for a division, go to the relevant heat assignments and begin. The fastest workflow:
Filter the athlete pick list by Division
Sort by Rank — worst to best puts lower-ranked athletes at the top of the list, ready to go into earlier heats
Drag athletes into heats — lower ranked into earlier heats, top performers into the final heat
Sort within each heat as needed (e.g. swim lane format by rank)
With this workflow, re-seeding 40 teams takes under a minute. The sooner you start — using the division stagger window described above — the smoother your day runs.
Communication: Instant for Athletes, Easy for Staff
As soon as re-seeding is complete, athletes see their new heat and lane assignments automatically — no announcement needed. New schedules are live on the leaderboard instantly, and athletes on the Competition Corner app receive an updated notification with their new heat time.
For your on-site team, go to Reports and print the updated schedule to distribute to floor managers, judges, and scorekeepers.