Purchase, N.Y. — This weekend, Knights Swimming competed at the two-day Skyline Conference Championship meet. The Knights women took home second place, while the men's team placed fourth overall.
"I'm so proud of our team," said Head Coach Chris Mance. "In a largely individual sport, they were able to show why team sacrifice is so important. They stepped up to swim new events outside their comfort zone and they all thrived in these new situations." He added, "every member of our team contributed to our success, each having two or more top 10 finishes."
Women's Recap
The women's team swam with grit this weekend, each earning scoring spots in their individual races to rack up 334 points overall. Meghan Wurster (Newburgh, NY) and Grace MacHugh (Newburgh, N.Y.) each earned Second Team All-Conference Skyline Honors for their performances—MacHugh for her second-place finish in the 400-yard individual medley (5:16.56), and Wurster for her second place 500-yard freestyle (5:23.12), where she touched out her competitor by just a hundredth of a second.
Meghan Wurster (left) and Grace MacHugh (right)
each earned Second Team All-Skyline Honors
In addition to her 500-yard freestyle, Wurster swam to third in the 1000-yard freestyle (11:21.09), and to fourth in both the 200-yard freestyle (2:07.44) and the 200-yard butterfly (2:36.06).
MacHugh earned third place in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:27.33, fourth in the 1000-yard freestyle (12:11.37) and sixth in the 200-yard breastroke (2:48.02).
Kitty Masayda (Watertown, Conn.) had quite the weekend as well, placing third in the 200-yard breastroke with a time of 2:39.63. She also swam to fourth in both her 100-yard breastroke (1:12.68) and the 400-yard individual medley (5:23.40), then fifth in the 200-yard individual medley (2:30.23).
Cayla Nicholas (Wappinger Falls, NY) swam strong in freestyle, placing fifth in the 100-yard race with a time of 1:00.43, and seventh in the 50-yard swim (27.10).
Emily Gursky (Oakville, Conn.) placed seventh in three individual events, the 100-yard backstroke (1:09.92), 200-yard backstroke (2:33.15) and the 500-yard freestyle (6:23.60).
Other strong swims came from Stefanie Sommer (Warwick, NY) and Rhiannon Mulkerrins (Staten Island NY). Sommers picked up eighth place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle (6:25.84) and the 200-yard freestyle (2:24.10), while Mulkerrins swam to seventh in the 1000-yard freestyle (14.09.71).
The Knights women also earned third place in three relays this meet—Gursky, MacHugh, Masayda and Wurster in the 200-yard medley (2:03.90) and the 400-yard medley (4:32.88). Gursky, McHugh, Nicholas and Wurster then closed out the weekend with third in the 400-yard freestyle relay (4:01.82).
Men's Recap
The Knights trio of Jackson Lerner (Bayside, N.Y.), Tyler Williams (Middlebury, Conn.) and Michael D'Ambrosio (Staten Island, NY) had strong swims this weekend, racking up 77 points for fourth place. D'Ambrosio posted the meet's highest finish for the men's team in the 200-yard backstroke, coming in fourth with a time of 2:25.30.
Lerner and Williams each picked up fifth place finishes in individual races this weekend—Lerner in his 200-yard butterfly, coming in at a 2:26.13 and Williams in his 200-yard backstroke (2:28.97).
Williams also placed sixth in the 1000-yard freestyle, just ahead of Lerner in seventh (12:32.95), before earning the seventh place spot in the 400-yard individual medley (5:11.86).
The Knights look ahead to their final competition of the season at Rutgers University on Feb. 16, 17 and 18 at the Metropolitan Championship meet. Coach Mance has high hopes of ending this season with a big splash.
"With another week of work and some rest I expect to see some fast swims at Metros," said Coach Mance.
