BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Emerson Sullivan (Sr., San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) tallied 16 goals, one assist, three ejections drawn, five steals and two blocked shots during a 3-0 weekend for Division III No. 5-ranked Johns Hopkins University in winning the 2021 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Eastern Championship. For his performance, Sullivan claims recognition as the October 25 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Player of the Week.
Competing at Connecticut College in New London, Conn., he scored five goals with an assist, two ejections drawn and a pair of steals in his team’s opening on Saturday, October 23, to turn back the host Camels by a 19-13 count. Later in the day, he accounted for a season-high seven goals one ejection drawn, a steal and a field block in an 18-8 defeat of Division III No. 10 Austin College to aid the Blue Jays to the tournament title game.
Facing Division III No. 8 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the title tilt on Sunday, October 24, he posted four goals, two steals and a field block during an 11-10 sudden death overtime win.
For his performance, Sullivan was named to the All-Tournament First Team and claimed tournament Most Valuable Player honors.
In the history of the Division III Eastern tournament, Hopkins now holds 19 Division III crowns (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021) in 28 title games with losses in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2010, 2014 and 2018. Hopkins did not compete in two Division III Championships as the Blue Jays’ missed the championship game in 2007 and 2016 by not attending the event. MIT is a nine-time champion MIT (1991, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018) as the duo stand as the only active Division III programs to hold a Division III Eastern crown. Overall, former varsity team Washington & Lee University defeated Johns Hopkins in 1992 and 1993 in the second and third Division III tournament for the only titles not held by either the Blue Jays or Engineers.
Sullivan is guaranteed a postseason berth as both Johns Hopkins and MIT punched their tickets to the 2021 USA Water Polo Division III Championship versus the top-two finishing teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). Slated for December 4-5 at the highest seeded SCIAC participant, it will mark the second USA Water Polo Division III Championship following the 2019 event hosted and claimed by Whittier College. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, MIT and Johns Hopkins placed second, third and fourth in the inaugural event which occurred on December 7-8 in Whittier, Calif.
October 18 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Player of the Week Honor Roll: Bailey O’Mara (Fordham University); Isaac Salinas (United States Naval Academy)
