Piscataway, N.J. — Knights Swimming closed out their 2023-2024 season this past weekend with an exciting showing at the Metropolitan Conference Championship, held at Rutgers University. The Knights Women finished eighth (540 points), and the men earned ninth placed (148 points).

"Everyone did a great job this weekend," said Head Coach Chris Mance. "The places and time dropped are just the most objective indicators of how far we have come this year." 

Coach Mance also reflected on his coaching philosophy, and how it all came together for the Knights this weekend: "My first year here I told the team my philosophy on coaching is: learn to swim, learn to train, and learn to achieve. This was the first real taste of the 'learn to achieve' phase." 

Women's Recap 

Coming off a second-place finish in the Skyline Conference, the Knights women arrived at the Metro Meet hungry for best times and scoring swims—and they achieved just that. 

Meghan Wurster (Newburgh, NY) was the sixth top-scorer of the meet, racking up 84 points for the Knights. She crushed the 1650-yard freestyle with a winning time of 18:24.72—this is the first time a Knight has taken home an individual win at the Metropolitan Championship Meet, according to Mount records. On top of that, Wurster had a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (5:24.90) and a sixth-place swim in the 200-yard butterfly (2:34.55). 
 

Grace MacHugh (Newburgh, N.Y.) had quite the weekend as well, scoring second place in the 400-yard individual medley (5:01.69), eighth in her 500-yard freestyle (5:49.57) and fourth in the 200-yard breastroke (2:37.50). 

Kitty Masayda (Watertown, Conn.) finished her career as a Knight with third-place swims in both the 100-yard breastroke (1:10.59) and the 200-yard breastroke (2:33.72). She also earned a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:26.17. 

Emily Gursky (Oakville, Conn.) had finals appearances in each of her events, placing 12th in the 100-yard backstroke (1:08.09), 13th in the 200-yard backstroke (2:29.31) and 17th in the 50-yard freestyle at a time of 26.75. 

Stefanie Sommer (Warwick, NY) swam to 12th in her 200-yard backstroke (2:27.85), 17th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:08.00 and 18th in the 500-yard freestyle (6:14.51). 

Rhiannon Mulkerrins (Staten Island NY) swam her first-ever 1650-yard freestyle this weekend, placing 15th at a time of 22:43.98. She also earned 15th in her 200-yard freestyle (2:21.69) and 19th place in the 500-yard freestyle (6:22.97). 

Victoria DeLuca (Hopewell Junction NY) had appearances in finals as well, in the 200-yard freestyle at a 2:40.47 and the 200-yard backstroke (3:02.79). 

Gursky, MacHugh, Masayda and Wurster thrived together in relay competitions this weekend. 

• 200-yard medley relay: Gursky, MacHugh, Masayda and Wurster earned fourth place, at a time of 1:59.33. 

• 200-yard freestyle relay: Gursky, Masayda, MacHugh and Wurster placed sixth, with a time of 1:48.02. 

• 400-yard medley relay: Gursky, MacHugh, Masayda and Wurster placed fifth at a 4:25.51. 

• 400-yard freestyle relay: Masayda, Gursky, MacHugh and Wurster closed the meet with a seventh-place finish at 3:55.75. 

Men's Recap 

The men's team had a rewarding weekend as well, racking up plenty of lifetime-best times and improving from prelims to finals each day.  

Tyler Williams (Middlebury, Conn.) closed out his swimming career with a ninth-place finish in both the 400-yard individual medley (4:46.13) and the 200-yard backstroke (2:11.87) and swam to 11th place in the 500-yard freestyle (5:24.45). 

Jackson Lerner (Bayside, N.Y.)had a weekend full of best times as well, swimming to ninth place in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:14.70, 11th place in his 100-yard butterfly (55.49) and 15th in his 50-yard freestyle (23.50). 

In his first Metros appearance this year, Michael D'Ambrosio (Staten Island, NY) swam to 11th place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:16.89, 12th in the 400-yard individual medley (4:57.22) and 14th in the 200-yard individual medley (2:14.87). 

When all was said and done, the Knights who closed out their careers this weekend shared some final thoughts regarding the season and their team. 

Kitty Masayda: "I'm forever thankful to my coaches and teammates for continuously believing in me and pushing me beyond what I thought I was even capable of achieving. Your support has pushed me into the athlete and individual I am today. As I move on, I will carry the lessons learned in the pool with me forever. Thank you and go Knights!" 

Tyler Williams: "One small journey began with a few yards swam, and ended with an amazing team and coaches. I'm going to miss my teammates and coaches dearly, for pushing me and being here for me when I needed it most. I love you all and go Knights!" 

Emily Gursky: "I have to thank my favorite people ever—my incredible teammates and coaches—for making me fall back in love with the sport of swimming, over and over again. We are truly a family, and I'd do it again with you all a hundred times over. Thank you for having such a massive impact on me, making me a better athlete and person. I can safely say that all the hard work was completely worth it. Go Knights!"

Jackson Lerner: "I never imagined myself swimming for this long and especially swimming in college, but here I am. Thanks to all my teammates and coaches for pushing me beyond what I thought I could ever do. I swam times that I never thought were possible. I love all my teammates and coaches so much, and appreciate them for everything they do. Go Knights."