ERIE, Pa. – Dan Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford) and Nick Roth (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) each won two individual events to help the Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving team defeat Washington & Jefferson 157-122 in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon.
Simon and Roth combined for four of the team's 11 events won on the day to defeat the Presidents. Simon won the 50 free (21.74) and the 200 backstroke (1:57.19), while Roth touched first in the 200 free (1:50.23) and 500 free (5:04.69).
The two also combined for a pair of relay wins. Simon, Roth, Jake Ekas (Erie, PA/McDowell) and Victor Nguyen (San Jose, CA/Evergreen Valley) led the opening 200 medley relay with a winning time of 139.33. The final 200 free relay involved Simon, Roth, Ekas and Ty Elder (Brentwood, CA/Heritage) won in 1:31.11.
Ekas was the winner of the 100 backstroke (54.49) and Nguyen won the 100 breaststroke (1:02.04). The team also took 2-3-4 in the breaststroke. Eric Matteson (Corry, PA/Corry) was second in 1:03.41 and Blair Carson (Wellsboro, PA/Wellsboro) was third (1:06.67), while Ryan Esley (Hermitage, PA/Hickory) placed fourth (1:06.95).
Ryan Mitcheltree (Moon Township, PA/Moon) had a hand in three events, starting with third place in the 1650 freestyle with a Behrend best time of 18:31.07. He then won the 200 butterfly (2:12.08) and Scott Romanko (Plum, PA/Plum) was second (2:17.36). Mitcheltree was the top finisher in the 100 butterfly for third overall (59.41).
In the 200 IM, Nick Kost (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) was the winner in a time of 2:02.84 while also taking third in the 100 backstroke (58.87).
The second event where the Lions took the top four spots was the 200 breaststroke. Matteson won in 2:22.44 and set the pace for second place Nguyen (2:25.86), third place Carson (2:27.40) and fourth place Elsey (2:29.85).
In addition to the relay, Elder clocked in at 51.85 in the 100 freestyle for the top Behrend time.
The Lions return to action against Pitt-Bradford on Friday, January 30 at 5 p.m.