Simulations | Natalog Swimming Software

Simulations - Natalog Swimming Software

With Natalog swimming software, you can simulate meets in many ways. Each simulation scores out the meet and displays the final hypothetical results, team standings, and high point totals. If you simulate a meet before it starts, you can get an idea of how the meet will finish. If you simulate the meet after it finishes, you can analyze it to find lineup weaknesses and extraordinary swims.

Below are some of the simulations that Natalog can do. Each what-if scenario can be piled on top of another to create sophisticated analyses.

» What if a team did not compete in a meet?

The selected teams and their entries are removed from the meet and the meet is replayed, using actual meet results. Suppose a championship or invitational meet had a team that was far superior to the other teams at the meet. With this simulation, you can re-evaluate the meet had the superior team not participated.

» What if a team performed as seeded in a meet?

This simuation works best when all entrants have a seed time. It simulates the meet as if all entrants match their seed times exactly. When all teams are selected, this simulation can be used to "score out" a psych sheet before a meet starts. It can also be used to evaluate how a team performed at a meet. Did it improve on its expected performance?

» What if a team performed lifetime bests at a meet?

Natalog substitutes lifetime best times for the results of the selected teams and replays the meet. This can give coaches an upper bound on how well teams could have performed.

» What if a team performed 1% better or worse at a meet?

This simulation improves (or worsens) all swim times and diving scores for the selected teams by 1% and re-scores the meet. This can answer questions like "had the team performed 1% better, could we have gotten 3rd place?" Since this what-if scenario can be applied multiple times, you can easily look at 2% and 3% improvements.

» What if a team swam all of its races as non-exhibition?

In high school and college dual meets, a team that is much stronger than its opponent will often change its entries in the last few events to exhbition. Then these swims will not score any team points, and the team will not run up the score on its opponent. Consequently, a final score of, say, 150-120 may look a lot closer than it actually is. This simulation changes all of a team's exhibition entries to non-exhibition and re-scores the meet. The resulting team score is then a truer reflection of the team matchup.

» What if another team participated in the meet?

Suppose your team did not attend the invitational that it normally attends. You can hypothetically enter your team in the meet and see how it may have performed. Natalog tries to find a good lineup for your team, but you may change the entries with the following simulation...

» What if a team had the same entries and results as another meet?

Suppose you want to know how your team would have fared at this meet if it had swum the same times as it did at another meet. This what-if scenario removes the selected team's entries and results and replaces them with the entries and results from another meet.

» What if teams at a meet were combined?

This simulation treats multiple teams as the same team and re-runs the meet. The simulation respects team entry limits and tries to generate the fastest relays possible for the combined team. Suppose your conference meet has a powerhouse that always wins by a lot. What if the other teams fielded a combined team? Could they beat the powerhouse?

» What if meets were combined?

Suppose twenty high school state sectional meets just finished. You can combine these meets into a single meet to get an idea of what the upcoming state meet will be like. Or, suppose your summer league has a number of divisions. You can combine the conference meets of all divisions into a single meet to see if the divisions need to be adjusted.

» What if an event were not in a meet?

Natalog removes the selected events, their entries, and their results and scores out the meet again. You can answer questions like "What if this college meet did not include diving?"

» What if a swimmer performed as seeded in a meet?

This simuation adjusts the selected swimmers' results so they equal their seed times. Then the meet is re-scored. This gives you an idea of how they were expected to place. Did they move up in the high point standings?

» What if a swimmer performed lifetime bests at a meet?

This simuation adjusts the selected swimmers' results so they equal their lifetime best times. Then the meet is re-scored.

» What if a swimmer performed 1% better or worse at a meet?

Natalog decreases (or increases) the selected swimmers' times by 1% and then re-evaluates the meet. Was this time drop enough to get a swimmer into finals?

» What if a swimmer had the same results as another meet?

This simulation replaces a swimmer's results with results from a different meet and re-evaluates the meet. No entries are changed, so if the swimmer did not swim a particular event in the other meet, the original results are used.

» What if a swimmer scratched all individual events in a meet?

This simuation removes the selected athletes from their individual events and replays the meet.

» What if a meet happened the next year?

This simuation ages everyone up a year and replays the meet. For age group meets, some swimmers may move up to the next age group. For high school and college meets, the seniors are dropped.

» What if a meet were scored out differently?

This simulation lets you adjust the way team points are calculated. You can play with the points scored per individual or relay event and with the maximum number of scorers per team. There is also an option to score the teams against each other in a dual-meet fashion. For open water events, you can turn on cross country scoring and adjust the number of team scorers.

» What if the squads from different seasons swam against each other?

This is a fun simulation that lets you rank your team's seasons by having their squads swim head-to-head in a meet of your choice. Athletes' season best times are used when the meet is simulated. You may find that your 2014 team was slightly better than your 2018 team.

Want more simulations? Let us know.