PURCHASE, N.Y. — Mount Saint Mary College women's swimming earned second place at the Skyline Conference Championship meet this weekend. The Knights racked up a total of 332 points, behind the United States Merchant Marine Academy (744) and ahead of Sarah Lawrence College (330), St. Joseph's College Long Island (182), SUNY Purchase (118) and SUNY Maritime College (19).
To top off the day's runner-up finish, Head Coach Chris Mance was honored as the Women's Swimming Coach of the Year. Senior Stefanie Sommer was also selected for the Skyline Conference Elite 19 Award, which is given to athletes who excel in their sport and in their academics. Sommer's 4.0 GPA and total of 108 credits earned her this recognition.
"Everybody did their job winning all the close races," said Coach Mance, reflecting on the meet.
Day 1 Recap
Cayla Nicholas , Grace MacHugh , Meghan Wurster and Sommer kicked off the meet with a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:48.52).
Wurster earned Second-Team All-Skyline Conference Honors with her second-place swim in the 500-yard freestyle (5:31.98), and swam to third in the 400-yard individual medley (5:17.46).
MacHugh scored big in the 200-yard individual medley, swimming to third place (2:23.35), before picking up Second-Team Honors in her 400-individual medley race later in the day (5:08.19).
Nicholas earned Second-Team Honors as well, in the 50-yard freestyle with a 25.70. She also scored points with fifth in the 100-yard butterfly (1:10.10), along with Kate Cerven in eighth at 1:28.38.
Sommer placed third in the 500-yard freestyle (6:12.94). She also swam to fourth in the 200-yard freestyle (2:20.58) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:09.82).
Rhiannon Mulkerrins earned points with sixth place in the 200-yard freestyle (2:23.63). She and Victoria DeLuca picked up points together in the 500-yard freestyle, placing sixth (6:31.17) and 11th (7:10.33), respectively.
Sommer, MacHugh, Nicholas and Wurster teamed up again to earn second in the 200-yard medley relay (2:02.83). They kicked off the afternoon session with another runner-up swim in the 400-yard medley relay (4:33.05).
Day Two Recap
The Knights were placed third heading into the final session yesterday, needing a big push across the board in the meet's final events.
Wurster continued her dominant streak in the 1,000-yard freestyle, cruising to first place with a time of 11:10.79 and earned First-Team All-Skyline Honors. This is the first time a Knight has won an event on the women's side at Skylines since 2018. Wurster also picked up points with seventh place in the 200-yard butterfly (2:48.72).
MacHugh scored key points in day two, earning fourth in the 1000-yard freestyle (12:27.74) and fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:43.00).
Nicholas swam to fourth in the 100-yard freestyle (57.46) and sixth in the 200-yard butterfly at a time of 2:44.43.
Mulkerrins also scored in the 1000-yard race in sixth (13:53.46), before placing 10th in the 200-yard breaststroke (3:14.20).
Sommer grabbed fourth place points in the 200-yard backstroke, with a 2:33.73.
DeLuca picked up points in the 1000-yard in ninth place with a time of 14:39.27, and the 200-yard backstroke in 10th (3:02.51).
Kate Cerven scored in 11th place for the 100-yard freestyle (1:06.77).
It all came down to the 400-yard freestyle relay, when Nicholas, MacHugh, Wurster and Sommer secured second place (3:59.70) to break a tie with Sarah Lawrence College for the team's runner-up spot.
Women's swimming now gets back to work ahead of their Metropolitan Conference Championship, held at Rutgers University on February 14-16.
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