Impact of Class of 2009 at NCAA Division 1 Level: Men

PHOENIX, Arizona, May 18. A pair of Swimming World superfans, who wish to remain anonymous, decided to take a statistical look at the impact of the recruiting class of 2009.

The study looked at how members of the Class of 2009 scored in this year's NCAA Division I Championships, as well as what Swimming World College Recruit Ranking each swimmer earned heading into the season.

In the end, 42 members of the Class of 2009 made the NCAA Division I Championships, while 34 of them scored either individually or as part of relays. A member of the Class of 2009 is defined as either a 2009 high school grad, first-year international swimmer, or a junior college transfer. Four-year college transfers are not counted as part of the Class of 2009.

Tom Shields of California, the reigning Swimming World High School Swimmer of the Year, easily pulled away as the top freshman this year. Additionally, California and Southern California had some of the top classes overall.

Here are some of the numbers for the men. We'll publish information on the women shortly.

The most valuable first year swimmers
1 CAL Tom Shields 38 Ind & 20 Relay points
2 TX Austin Surhoff 40 Ind point
3 AUB Adam Brown 31 Ind & 8.5 Relay points
4 USC Clement Lefert 27 Ind & 9 Relay points
5 FL Marco Loughran 24 Ind points
6 GA Martin Grodzi 22 Ind points
7 GA Andrew Gemmell 19 Ind points
8 FL Sebastian Rousseau 18 Ind points
9 TX Cole Cragin 9 Ind & 8 Relay points
10 OSU Tim Phillips 5 Ind & 11 Relay points

Which 2009 Recruiting Classes scored the most for their teams in points and had most impact:
# 2009 Student-Athletes Competing at NCAAs, Rank by # of Points, Pts, School (% to total score)

3,#1, 64.5, CAL, (13.7%)
5, #2, 62.5, USC (55.1%)
4, #3, 57.5, Auburn (20.7%)
3, #4, 57, TX (11.4%)
2, #5, 48.5, Florida (13.3%)
2, #6, 41, GA (28.6%)
2, #7, 18, MN (22%)
3, #8, 16.5, Stanford (4.5%)
1, #9, 16, OSU (11.7%)
3, #10, 13.5, Mich (6.6%)

Rank by % impact
#1 USC – 55.1%
#2 GA – 28.6%
#3 MN – 22%
#4 AUB – 20.7%
#5 CAL – 13.7%
#6 FL – 13.3%
#7 OSU – 11.7%
#8 TX – 11.4%
#9 Mich – 6.6%
#10 – Stanford 4.5%

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