Podcast: Inside Mercersburg’s Easterns Win: Depth, Relays, and a Program Built to Win

Mercersburg Academy had a big weekend at the 2026 Eastern Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships, winning the boys title and coming within striking distance of a combined team sweep after the girls finished 15.5 points short of the title.

On the GMM Podcast, Head Coach Matt Hurst  breaks down the meet, his team’s performance, and the culture that makes Mercersburg a consistent powerhouse in prep school swimming.

On the boys side, Mercersburg piled up 673 points, comfortably ahead of Phillips Academy (528.5) and Spire Institute (444). The girls scored 643 points to finish behind Germantown Academy’s 658.5.

One of the meet’s breakout stars was senior Matt Krause, who dropped PBs in both the 100 fly (47.90) and 100 back (47.02) before anchoring Mercersburg’s 2:59.30 400 freestyle relay. Krause heads to Indiana next fall. He’s a part of a steady pipeline of swimmers moving from Mercersburg directly into major NCAA programs, and Coach Hurst discusses how he prepares athletes to step into the demands of Power 4 college swimming.

We discuss the girls team’s narrow runner-up finish and what the program takes away from a meet that was essentially decided by a single relay swing. Finally, Hurst breaks down the program’s guiding mission to  be the best team and what that actually means inside the program on a daily basis.

If I missed any questions in this podcast, drop them in the comments.

SEE A FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE PODCAST HERE.

Follow Mercersburg Academy on Instagram here. 

Follow Gold Medal Mel on Instagram here.

Many thanks to Swimoutlet.com for their 14 years partnership and support of this swimming news and media.

SEE RECENT GMM PODCASTS:

This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.

Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.

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Ben
3 months ago

Mel should have written this article. Didn’t he go to the Hill school?

Gold Medal Mel Stewart
Reply to  Ben
3 months ago

😔😔😔😔

MigBike
3 months ago

Way to go Coach Matt – Proud of the great work you are doing at Mercersburg.

About Gold Medal Mel Stewart

Gold Medal Mel Stewart

MEL STEWART Jr., aka Gold Medal Mel, won three Olympic medals at the 1992 Olympic Games. Mel's best event was the 200 butterfly. He is a former World, American, and NCAA Record holder in the 200 butterfly. As a writer/producer and sports columnist, Mel has contributed to Yahoo Sports, Universal Sports, …

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