WILKES-BARRE, PA (January 14, 2023) -- In their final home meet of the 2022-23 season, the King's College men's swimming team posted a thrilling finish, earning an important win in the final event of the 200-yard freestyle relay, to defeat the visiting Lycoming College, 94-81, on Saturday afternoon in the Scandlon Natatorium. With the win, the Monarchs improve to 4-5 overall, while the Warriors drop to 2-4.
 
Lycoming collected early points in the 200-yard medley relay, but the pair of Erik Aguero and Anthony Ursini took first and second, respectively, in the 1,000-yard freestyle as Aguero finished in 11:05.58 and Ursini posted a time of 11:24.32 to earn 13 points for the Monarchs. Ryan Bixler came in first in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:55.97 to keep the momentum for King's, while Joey Slish finished in 2:13.57 in the event.
 
King's earned their third first-place finish of the meet as Blaze Graham took the top spot in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing in 23.33, while Anthony Macko posted a time of 23.93 in the event. Another top spot was claimed by Andrew Pursel in the 200-yard individual medley as he defeated two Warriors with a time of 2:11.83.
 
Aguero and Slish finished second and third just behind Lycoming's Reilly Gluz in the 100-yard butterfly as Aguero recorded a time of 59.74 and Slish finished in 1:11.66. Pursel earned his second top-finish of the day in the 100-yard freestyle as he came in with a time of 51.75 seconds, followed closely by a second-place time from Graham in 52.03, and Macko posted a time of 53.94.
 
Bixler recorded a second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke as he was just edged out by Lycoming's CJ Zortman with a time of 1:02.55. Ursini dominated the 500-yard freestyle as he won the event in 5:34.89 to earn some important points for King's. Pursel and Aguero rounded out the individual events in the 100-yard breaststroke as Pursel finished third in 1:07.89 and Aguero posted a time of 1:11.44.
 
The meet came to a thrilling finish as the Monarchs needed to secure a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay to come out of the meet victorious, and the relay team of Bixler (23.75), Graham (23.33), Ursini (24.68), and Macko (23.34) delivered as the Monarchs posted a time of 1:35.00 to defeat Lycoming and secure the team's 94-81 win in their final home meet of the 2022-23 season.
 
The Monarchs will be on the road next Saturday, January 21, as they travel up the mountain to Misericordia University. The meet is set for an 11:00 a.m. start time in Dallas, Pa.