GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving team won their ninth straight Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship on Saturday night in dominating fashion.
The Lions finished with a 208 point lead over Pitt-Bradford for the conference crown. Behrend totaled 348 points over three days to hold onto the title once again. Dan Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford) and Nick Roth (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) tied for the highest point getter in the meet with 27 points.
Simon won his third individual title in the 200 backstroke with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:52.14 for a new AMCC meet, AMCC open and school record. He also broke those records earlier in the preliminaries in 1:53.03. Behind Simon was second-place Jake Ekas (Erie, PA/McDowell) in 1:59.28.
Roth did it again in the 200 butterfly, defending his title with a new school, AMCC meet and open record with a shattering time of 1:54.77.
Ryan Mitcheltree (Moon Township, PA/Moon) repeated as champion in the 1650 freestyle. His winning time of 17:14.57 was good for seventh overall. Justin Seeley (North East, PA/North East) was second in the conference and 17th overall in 18:26.32. Mitcheltree was also second in the 200 butterfly behind Roth in 2:04.54.
Eric Matteson (Corry, PA/Corry) was named the AMCC Champion in the 200 breaststroke with a winning time of 2:12.90 for sixth overall and Victor Nguyen (San Jose, CA/Evergreen Valley) took home the silver in 2:14.81 (eighth overall).
In the 100 freestyle, Ty Elder (Brentwood, CA/Heritage) had his best time of 48.99 to finish second in the AMCC and 13th overall to lead Behrend.
Simon took home his final gold of his career in the 400 free relay, setting the school, AMCC meet and open record in the opening leg with a time of 46.75 for the 100 free. Roth, Elder and Nick Kost (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) won the AMCC title and took fourth overall with a time of 3:10.26.
The Lions return to action at the Kenyon Invitational next weekend.