Swimming Finishes Second at Pitt-Bradford Relays

BRADFORD, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's and women's swimming teams placed second out of seven teams at the Pitt-Bradford Relays to kick off the 2011-12 season on Saturday.

The Lions were four points away from first place, falling to Notre Dame College 222-218. Pitt-Bradford finished third with a combined score of 108. Behrend, who scored a 218, won three events and took second in 10 other events out of 16 total.

Behrend won the 300 butterfly relay, 300 backstroke relay and the mixed 200 freestyle relay. In the 300 butterfly, Pete Blazak, Dane Dombrosky, Ryan Mitcheltree and Clay Altemose touched in first place with a time of 2:42.05.

Altemose then joined Andrew Opalewski, Eric Peirce and Daniel Simon to win the 300 yard backstroke in 2:44.04. In the 200 mixed freestyle relay, Opalewski and Everett Sargent were the two men and Jamie Boyle and Hilary MacManus made up the foursome that posted a time of 1:41.51 for the victory.  

In another mixed relay, this time the 200 medley, MaryEllen Spooner, Anne Lawrence, Jake Sherk and Opalewski places second in 1:51.16.

For the women, Boyle, Spooner, Emily Spicher and Katie Siffrinn were runner-up in the 300 backstroke relay in 3:28.26. Siffrinn also swam on the second-place 300 breaststroke relay with MacManus, Nicole Nau and Julie Cook. The team clocked in at 3:53.14.

In the men's 300 breaststroke, Danny White, Sargent, Sherk and Justin Pritchard collected 10 points with second place in 3:12.65. Mitcheltree, Altemose, Peirce and Brian Mong made up the 800 freestyle relay that took second in 7:40.31, just three second shy of the relay record.

The mixed 400 medley reverse relay featured Jessie Dunleavy, Lawrence, Pritchard and Daniel Simon. The second-place group touched in 4:02.70.

Another second-place finish for the women came in the 400 medley individual relay. Lawrence, Cook, MacManus and Siffrinn had a time of 4:34.23. The same event for the men had the same result. Simon, Mitcheltree, Peirce and Dombrosky posted a time of 4:00.19, only to be edged by Pitt-Bradford (3:54.91).

Cook, Boyle, Lawrence and Dunleavy were a part of the 500 freestyle cesscendo relay. The foursome recorded a time of 5:21.05 for second, while the guys had the same finish. Pritchard, Blazak, Mitcheltree and Mong were two seconds from first place with 4:35.44.

The final even of the day was the mixed 400 freestyle relay. Opalewski, MacManus, Dunleavy and Simon earned the last second place and 10 points for the Lions. The time of 3:43.71 was good enough for runner-up.

Behrend returns to action on Saturday at home against Bethany and Francisca. Meet time is 2 p.m.