GROVE CITY, Pa. – Mark Patterson (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) led the Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving at the Grove City Fall Classic on Saturday afternoon.
As a team, the Lions placed fourth with a score of 602.5. Clarion won with 866 points, while Grove City came in second (724) and Allegheny took third (626.5).
Patterson led a 2-4-6 finish in the 200 backstroke. The junior was runner up with a time of 2:05.67, followed by Michael Bauer (Northhampton, PA/Northhampton) in fourth (2:10.99) and Liam Watterson (Brentwood, PA/Baldwin) in sixth (2:12.42).
In the 100 backstroke, Patterson led a 3-5-6 completion with a team-leading time of 55.45. Bauer and Watterson were fifth and sixth, respectively. Bauer clocked in at 56.46 and Watterson was close behind with 57.74. Patterson was also eighth in the 200 free (1:52.57).
Bauer had his best finishes in the 50 and 100 freestlyle. The freshman placed third in both with times of 22.57 and 49.59, respectively. Alex Croll (Honolulu, HI/Roosevelt) tallied a fourth-place finish in the 50 free (22.72).
Steven Owens (Erie, PA/McDowell) matched Patterson with a second-place finish on the day. He was runner up in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:05.06. Brady Mattson (Wilmington, DE/Delaware Military Academy) came in fifth (2:14.08).
Owens also led Behrend in the 100 butterfly, touching in 54.92 for third overall. He also had the top time for the Lions in the 200 IM for seventh (2:12.11). Watterson was less than a second behind for ninth (2:12.99).
In addition to the 200 butterfly, Mattson also competed in the 1650 freestyle, 400 IM and 500 freestyle. He led a 4-5-6 finish in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 18:04.01. David Ewing (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) was fifth (18:09.64) and Jacob Schmidt (Erie, PA/Cathedral Prep) took sixth (18:21.52).
In the 400 IM, Mattson led with a seventh-place finish in 4:44.81 and Noah Babik (Penn Township, PA/Penn Trafford) was eighth (4:50.05).
Schmidt, Mattson and Patterson were the top swimmers in the 500 freestyle. Schmidt led in fourth with a time of 5:09.93, while Mattson was fifth (5:10.13) and Patterson ended seventh (5:12.25).
In the 200 breaststroke, Babik had the best Behrend time of 2:23.83 for fourth and then was eighth in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.46). Croll followed in 10th in 1:05.99.
The 400 free relay was the final event of the day. Patterson, Bauer, Quinn Fischer (Fairview, PA/Cathedral Prep) and Croll capped the afternoon with third place in 3:23.52.
The Lions return to action on Saturday at Alfred. Meet time is 1 p.m.