ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's swimming and diving team won all six events and broke five records to sit in second place after day three of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships on Friday.
Cabrini used the final event to take a small 382-378 lead over the Lions with one day of competition remaining. Alfred State sits in third place (333) and Penn State Altoona moved into fourth (130), while Franciscan and Pitt-Bradford are battling for fifth and sixth with 110 and 106 points, respectively.
In a heated race for first place the entire night, Abigail Witmer (Herndon, VA/Herndon), Devon van Rensburg (Johannesburg, South Africa/Sagrados Corazones), Lowery, Paola Maldonado (San Juan, Puerto Rico) won the 200 medley relay to open the evening with a time of 1:53.76. The relay win kept the Lions ahead by two points 248-246 against Cabrini in second.
Gwendolyn Lowery (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte) then won the 400 IM for the first time at the championships and did it in style by breaking the AMCC meet and open record with a time of 4:46.48.
After the 400 IM, Behrend went down a point, however, the Lions grabbed a 299-286 advantage after the 100 butterfly. Witmer was crowned AMCC Champion with a time of 1:00.02 and Maldonado took sixth (1:07.14).
More records were broken on the night. This time in the 200 freestyle and by Jessica Wyckoff (Elma, NY/Iroquois). She edged Lowery for her first individual championship. Wyckoff touched in 1:56.75 to break the AMCC meet and conference record along with a new team mark. With this win, Behrend went ahead of the Cavaliers by 14 at 328-314.
Maryn Horn (Houston, TX/Jersey Village) claimed her second gold medal of her career in the 100 breaststroke. She touched in 1:11.47 to lead the final and earn first place. Van Rensburg had a time of 1:17.13 for sixth place, helping the Lions take a 12-point lead.
In the last event of the night, 100 backstroke, Witmer won her second individual title of the day with a time of 1:01.08 but Cabrini had three swimmers in the top six to put the Lions four points behind heading into the final day of competition.
Behrend returns to action tomorrow for the last day of the AMCC Championships. Prelims begin at 10 a.m.