FREDONIA, NY – The Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving team is in first place out of seven teams with a team score of 169 after the first day of the Fredonia State Blue Devil Invitational on Friday night.
The Lions won two out of the four events to take a 26 point lead over second-place SUNY Brockport.
Brian Mong (Franklin, PA/Franklin) came in first in the 1650 free with a time of 17:09.25, taking over an entire minute off his best time this season. Justin Seeley (North East, PA/North East) came in 10th in 18:59.72 and Terrance Watterson (Pittsburgh, PA/Brentwood) posted a time of 19:01.26 for 11th overall.
The 800 free relay team claimed the top spot with the foursome of Andrew Opalewski (Slippery Rock, PA/Slippery Rock), Dane Dombrosky (Mt. Pleasant, PA/Mt. Pleasant), Mong, and Hunter Backenstose (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East). They clocked in with a winning time of 7:17.74.
Behrend placed four swimmers in the top eight in the 50 free. All four were separated by tenths of a second and were led by Dan Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford). Simon took second in 22.17, while Justin Pritchard (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) was third (22.35). Backenstose touched in 22.50 for fifth and Opalewski came in sixth (22.68).
In the 200 IM, Eric Peirce (Harmony, PA/Seneca Valley) tallied a season-best time of 2:08.06 for seventh place and earning the Lions 12 points.
Behrend returns to action tomorrow for day two of the invitational. Meet begins at 10 a.m.
