Relay All Stars--wild cards

So your relay team came in second at relay carnival...might you still go to All Stars? This year, if you are in divisions A through H, the answer is no. If you are in divisions I through O, the answer is maybe. Why?

We swim Relay All Stars in two sections, appropriately labeled Section I and Section II. (Roman numerals are so much classier, don't you think?) If we had an even number of divisions, the sections would be equal, but since we have an odd number (15), one section has 8 divisions and the other has 7. This year Section I has 8 divisions; next year Section II will. Division H, being smack in the middle, is the division that bounces back and forth between Section I and Section II.

Why do you care about this? Because we swim Relay All Stars in an 8 lane pool. If you are in Section I this year, you have 8 divisions, so all the lanes are filled. But if you're in Section II, you have only 7 divisions. One lane is empty. Since we hate empty lanes, we fill it with a "wild card" team--the team in Section II that has the second fastest time in that event for the entire section.