GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving team takes a commanding lead after day two of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships on Friday held at Grove City.
The Lions have a two-day total of 226 to separate themselves from second-place Pitt-Bradford with 102. Cabrini is in third with 90 and Penn State Altoona is fourth (78).
Nick Kost (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) won the 400 IM in both the AMCC and during the invitational with a time of 4:05.90. He shattered the AMCC meet record by nearly 10 seconds and set the new school record by six seconds. Kost's time was also an NCAA "B" cut mark and a new AMCC open record. Ryan Esley (Hermitage, PA/Hickory) was second behind Kost in 4:31.58.
Dan Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford) became a four-time winner in the 100 backstroke at the AMCC Championships. The senior hit an NCAA qualifying time of 49.66 to set a new AMCC meet record. Freshman Jacob Ekas (Erie, PA/McDowell) took third in the AMCC in 54.02.
Another three-time record breaker on the night was Victor Nguyen (San Jose, CA/Evergreen Valley). He set the AMCC meet and open record along with the school record in the prelims of the 100 breaststroke. He then won in the finals and took fourth overall in 58.91. Eric Matteson (Corry, PA/Corry) was third in the AMCC and 11th overall in 1:00.49.
In the 200 freestyle, Nick Roth (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) earned his first AMCC title in this event for his career. He touched in 1:45.42 to capture gold, while Ty Elder (Brentwood, CA/Heritage) was third (1:50.18).
Simon, Nguyen, Roth and Elder made up the winning 200 medley relay. The squad was also third overall with a time of 1:34.27. The second relay of the day, the 800 free relay, consisted of Kost, Matt Myers (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley), Ryan Mitcheltree (Moon Township, PA/Moon) and Ryan Siggins (Erie, PA/Iroquois). The first-place team hit the time of 7:21.59, finishing fifth overall.
Behrend returns for the final day of the AMCC Championships tomorrow at 10 a.m.
