Two regattas, the Fantasy IRAs and the Fantasy NCAAs. Nineteen scoring finals. One series title.
emilio takes the Varsity Series on 394 points, 15 clear of Fraser Innes. The single number that explains the result: emilio is the only player in the top five who finished top six in both regattas. Everyone else aced one leg and faded in the other.
Final series standings
| Rank | Player | Series points | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🏆 | emilio | 394 | — |
| 2 | Fraser Innes | 379 | −15 |
| 3 | Cam Charrette | 376 | −18 |
| 4 | tia | 370 | −24 |
| 5 | Jack W M | 366 | −28 |
How it played out
| Player | Fantasy IRAs | Fantasy NCAAs | Series total |
|---|---|---|---|
| emilio | 251 (1st) | 143 (6th) | 394 |
| Fraser Innes | 246 (3rd) | 133 (13th) | 379 |
| Cam Charrette | 221 (23rd) | 155 (1st) | 376 |
| tia | 217 (29th) | 153 (2nd) | 370 |
| Jack W M | 242 (5th) | 124 (25th) | 366 |
The only player in the top ten of both legs
emilio never won the NCAAs. emilio finished third among this group there, on 143. What emilio did was win the IRAs outright on 251, the joint-highest score of that regatta, and then refuse to give the lead back. Third at the NCAAs is not a headline. Paired with a regatta win, it's a series title.
That is the whole lesson of a two-event series. It does not reward a single spike. It rewards the player who is dangerous in both rooms. emilio was the only one who managed it.
The chasers, and why each fell short
Cam Charrette: the NCAA champion who started too far back
Cam won the Fantasy NCAAs outright on 155, the best NCAA score anyone in this field posted. It still left Cam third in the series. The reason is the IRAs, where Cam managed only 221, 30 points behind emilio's 251. Cam beat emilio by 12 at the NCAAs and lost to emilio by 30 at the IRAs. Net minus 18, and a regatta title that counted for a podium finish rather than the trophy. The series was lost at the IRAs.
Jack W M: the mirror image
Jack is Cam in reverse. Third best at the IRAs on 242, then last of the five at the NCAAs on 124. A strong first leg, a quiet second, and a slide to fifth. Front-loading the series is the same mistake as back-loading it. You need both.
tia: most champions, fourth place
Here is the paradox that ran through both regattas, now visible at series scale. tia and emilio each correctly picked 13 of the 19 champions, the most of anyone in the field. tia finished 24 points behind emilio. The gap is the IRAs, where tia's 217 was the lowest of these five. A second-place NCAA leg (153) could not cover it. Picking the most winners did not win the IRAs, the NCAAs, or the series. Finishing position did.
Fraser Innes: consistent, just short
Fraser was the second story behind emilio: 246 at the IRAs, 133 at the NCAAs, second in the series. Solid in both legs, dominant in neither. In a series that rewards turning up twice, being good twice is worth a clear second place. Being excellent once, as Cam was, was worth less.
