BETHANY, WVa. – The Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving team won 13 events, including the first 10 of the meet to defeat Bethany 161-56 in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon.
The Lions dominated each event, not only winning 13 but taking the top two spots in seven of them to earn the dual-meet victory. Justin Pritchard (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) posted three wins, including one relay and two individual events.
Pritchard joined Clay Altemose (Apollo, PA/Apollo Ridge), Daniel Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford) and Javier Solivan (San Juan, Puerto Rico/UHS) to win the opening 200 medley relay with a time of 1:38.96. Pritchard went on to win the 50 free (23.08) and the 200 breaststroke (2:27.48).
Simon and Solivan also picked up individual wins. Simon touched first in the 200 backstroke (2:04.71) and Solivan won the 100 butterfly (55.20).
In the 1000 freestyle, Ryan Mitcheltree (Moon Township, PA/Moon) earned first place in 10:57.56 while Justin Seeley (North East, PA/North East) took third in 11:58.82.
Christopher Bendt (Franklin, PA/Franklin ) and Dan Zora (Upper St. Clair, PA/Upper St. Clair) led the Lions in the 200 free. Bendt clocked in at 2:02.57 for the win and Zora came in second in 2:07.17.
Behrend finished 1-2 in the 100 backstroke thanks to Gabe Romano (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) and Andrew Opalewski (Slippery Rock, PA/Slippery Rock) with times of 59.50 and 1:01.99, respectively.
The 100 breaststroke belonged to Scott Romanko (Plum, PA/Plum) with a time of 1:07.60, while Eric Lasher (Edinboro, PA/General McLane) won the 100 free (51.25).
Eric Peirce (Harmony, PA/Seneca Valley) led a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 IM. She had a winning time of 2:09.88, followed by Steve Torre (McDonald, PA/South Fayette) in second in 2:10.69 and Brian Mong (Franklin, PA/Franklin) in third (2:13.56). Torre also places second in the 200 breaststroke (2:34.09).
Andrew Neder (Erie, PA/Fairview) dove into first place in the one-meter and three-meter events. He scored 158.45 in the three and 187.20 in the one-meter board.
Sophomore Will Belsterling (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) was the leader in the 500 free, taking second in 6:02.19.
The Lions return to action on Saturday, November 10 at Franciscan with Penn State Altoona. Meet begins at 1 p.m.