Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's and Women's Swimming teams return to action for the first time since October 21 Saturday afternoon when they make the trip to Division II College of Staten Island to take on the host Dolphins and league rival Sarah Lawrence. Events on Saturday are scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m..
 
MSMC Men At A Glance: The Knights scored an impressive 78-36 home victory over Bard in the season opener back on October 21.
 
Mount Saint Mary got off to a fast start on Friday, scoring a victory in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Joseph Tagliareni (Hackettstown, N.J.), William Kara (White Plains, N.Y.), Jackson Lerner (Bayside, N.Y.) and Atticus Salazar (Queens, N.Y.) swam to a time of 2:04.86 to open the night.
 
Tagliareni went on to score victories for the Knights in both the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke. His initial win of the night came in a time of 50.38 seconds before he bested the field in the breaststroke race in 1:13.69.
 
Lerner finished off a strong opening meet for the Mount with a victory in the 50-yard freestyle and a runner-up finish in the 100-yard butterfly. Lerner's victory came in a time of 24.24 seconds before swimming a time of 1:00.18 in the butterfly event.
 
Tyler Williams (Middlebury, Conn.) also turned in a strong meet for the Mount, posting a victory in the 200-yard freestyle and runner-up finishes in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke. Williams touched out first in the freestyle race in 2:15.58 and added runner-up times of 2:34.47 and 1:08.83, respectively.
 
Salazar added a second place finish for the Knights in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:42.43 with Kara scoring second place points in both the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke. Christopher Astacio (Bronx, N.Y.) opened his collegiate career with a second place showing in the 50-yard freestyle for the Knights.
 
Recent History vs. Saturday's Opponents: The Knights and Dolphins have met six times previous to Saturday's meet since the start of the 2007-08 season, with the Mount posting wins in both 2009 and 2017. Against the Gryphons, Mount Saint Mary holds a 6-1 record since the start of the 2014-15 campaign.
 
MSMC Women At Glance: Like the men, the Mount Saint Mary Women's team got the season off to a fast start with a tight 97-85 home non-conference victory over Bard on October 21. The Knights took eight of the 11 events in the meet with Grace MacHugh (Newburgh, N.Y.) and Cayla Nicholas (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) each winning twice.
 
The Knights opened and closed the meet in strong form on Friday, winning the 200-yard medley relay to start the evening and taking the 200-yard freestyle race to finish off the victory. The team of Emily Gurskey (Oakville, Conn.), Kitty Masayda (Watertown, Conn.), Nicholas and Stefanie Sommer (Monroe, N.Y.) took the medley race in 2:06.06 with Gurskey, MacHugh, Sommer and Kristen Dwight (Newfield, N.J.) taking the freestyle event in 1:54.00.
 
Individually, MacHugh scored victories in each of the distance freestyle events for the Knights. She posted a win in the 1,000-yard race in 12:30.86 before topping the field in the 500-yard event with a time of 6:02.67.
 
Nicholas also scored a pair of victories in her collegiate debut. She scored a winning time of 26.53 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle before touching out first in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:22.07.
 
Mount Saint Mary also received victories on Friday from Dwight in the 100-yard freestyle and Sommer in the 100-yard backstroke. Dwight won her race in 2:26.72 with Sommer coming home first in a time of 1:10.03 in the backstroke race. Dwight also added a second place swim for the Mount in the 100-yard freestyle, posting a time of 1:05.40.
 
Masayda and Gurskey also had strong nights for the Mount with each picking up runner-up finishes. Masayda took the second position in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly with times of 2:56.77 and 1:10.83 with Gurskey touching out second in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:11.34.
 
Recent History vs. Saturday's Opponents: The Knights and Dolphins have split six meetings in the head-to-head series, with Staten Island claiming the last two decisions. From 2009-2018, the two teams swam against each other just three times with the Mount taking each decision.
 
The Mount has dominated Sarah Lawrence since the start of the 2007-08 season, coming away victorious in seven of the previous eight matchups.
 
What's Next: Following Saturday's meet, the Knights travel to Adelphi on November 11 before taking on league rivals St. Joseph's-L.I. (women) and Purchase on November 12.