Week 6 roundup, Part 2

Emory.

This one is pretty straightforward.

Like, which is more impressive? That the Emory Women are 23 points clear of 2nd place Chicago? Or that the Emory Men have more SRS points than all other teams combined?

Men

On the Men’s side, we see three seniors and one junior producing almost 70% of the team’s SRS points.

Among the Eagles top five, there is one first-year, Zachary Spicer, who is basically killing it. Think of it this way. Mr. Spicer currently ranks as the eighth most valuable men’s swimmer (by SRS) in all of Division III. But he is only the fifth most valuable swimmer on his own team.

The gap between Emory and Chicago stands at nearly 15 points, while all other men’s teams on the list are within about 5 points of Chicago. This means that the lead Emory holds over second place is nearly three times the gap between second place and last place.

We could just keep doing stuff like this all day.

Women

On the Women’s side it is a different story, and the same story.

Different because: In Women’s events we see three first-years and a sophomore producing about half of the team’s points. And while the men have a single first-year in their top five, the women have only one athlete in their top five who isn’t a first-year or sophomore—the backstroke legend Megan Jungers, a graduate student.

Also, there is a smaller but perceptible difference in the depth of the teams. Twenty Emory women are contributing positive SRS points, compared to 14 men. Remarkably, those 14 men with positive SRS points represent a greater number than any other team in Division III—except one, the Emory women—and is equal to the combined total of the next five men’s teams.

Same because: The gap between the Emory Women and second-place Chicago is 23 points. Chicago has just over eight points…so, yeah, you guessed it: On the Women’s side, the lead Emory holds over second place is nearly three times the gap between second place and last place.

Caveats

Mid-season invitationals are coming up. SRS totals change rapidly early in the season, and it is unclear what SRS is telling us until we get much closer to conference champs. /hand-wave gesture

Distillation

That said:

• The Emory men’s team is getting dominating performances by more senior athletes.

  • Crow Thorsen, Liyang Sun, Jeff Echols, and Henri Bonnault have each exceeded their performances from last season, filling the seemingly unfillable void left by the departures of Jake Meyer, Nick Goudie, and Ryan Soh.

  • According to SRS, these four rank 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th across all of men’s Division III.

  • Additionally, Emory boasts the most valuable first-year in men’s Division III: Zachary Spicer.

• The Emory Women appear - right now - to have by far the strongest class of first-years in Division III. By a mile.

  • Allison Greeneway, Caitlin Crysel, and Elodie Mitchell alone contribute a combined SRS of 12.25 points—50% higher than either the Chicago or Kenyon teams, which are currently in second and third place.

  • Adding other first-year standouts like Maddy Lu, Louisa Wendt, Sophia Joos, and Victoria Layden brings the first-year women’s SRS total to 14.84 points.

  • In other words, if the Emory first-year women formed their own team, they would have nearly double the SRS points of the closest teams behind them.

  • They would rank just behind the rest of the Emory women (sophomores through grad students), who—on their own—would be the strongest team in women’s Division III.

  • Basically, if you split the Emory Eagles women’s team in half, each half would still be nearly twice as strong as either Chicago or Kenyon (the two teams currently in second and third place in Women’s Division III).

Early

OK, this is probably a good time to catch our breath. It’s still very early in the season—at this point last year, Kaley McIntyre was ranked 16th in the 100 Free, Kate Augustyn was 12th in the 100 Back, and Kenyon’s record-breaking 400 Medley Relay was sitting at 30th.

Seriously, NESCAC teams haven’t even started competing yet—they kick off their season this coming weekend.

But, all that aside, Emory - both the Women and the Men - are treating us to a flat-out jail-break start to the season. We might all take some time to admire and enjoy it.