GROVE CITY, Pa. – Dan Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford) captured first-place overall in the 100 backstroke with an NCAA B-Cut time of 51.39, breaking three records along the way and helping the Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving team stay out front at the 2012 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships (AMCC) on Friday night.
The Lions continued to break multiple records on day two of the championships to jump out to a 192-point lead over second-place Pitt-Bradford with two sessions remaining on Saturday.
Simon led all swimmers in the 100 backstroke and broke his own AMCC open record while setting the meet and team record. Clay Altemose (Apollo, PA/Apollo-Ridge) was the runner up with an NCAA B-cut time of 51.79. Earlier in the night, Altemose won the 100 butterfly. He swam in 51.52 to break his own AMCC meet and open record, and the team record he set at last year's conference meet.
After setting records on day one, Javier Solivan (San Juan, Puerto Rico/UHS) returned to do the same again but this time in the 200 freestyle. The freshman broke all three records (AMCC meet, AMCC open and team record) twice, first in the preliminaries and then again in the finals with a time of 1:42.60. Andrew Opalewski (Slippery Rock, PA/Slippery Rock) posted a time of 1:49.78 in the same event for third in the conference.
Simon, Altemose, Justin Pritchard (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) and Hunter Backenstose (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East) set a new AMCC open, meet and team record in the 200 medley relay to start the evening. The group tallied a time of 1:34.22 for first in the conference and third overall.
Pritchard broke away from the relay to place second in the 100 breaststroke in 59.20. That time became a new team record, breaking a three-year old record set by Ben Strunk in 2009 (59.75). Jacob Sherk (Elizabethtown, PA/Elizabethtown) came in third place in the AMCC in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.19).
The 400 IM also belonged to the Lions, thanks to Eric Peirce (Harmony, PA/Seneca Valley). He swam 4:28.73 to win the event and rank 11th overall.
The final 800 free relay consisting of Solivan, Opalewski, Dane Dombrosky (Mt. Pleasant, PA/Mt. Pleasant) and Brian Mong (Franklin, PA/Franklin) capped the night with a first-place victory. The foursome posted a winning time of 7:09.66.
The Lions return to action tomorrow for the final day of the AMCC Championships. Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m.
