Lions Break Pool Records on Day Two of Fredonia Invite

FREDONIA, NY – The Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving team reset two pool records to remain in first place on the second day of the Fredonia State Blue Devil Invitational held on Saturday.

The Lions are in the leader position with 532 points, taking a 139 point over the hosts SUNY Fredonia. St. Vincent is in third place with 328 points.

Behrend had two relays set new pool records that were previously held by the Lions. Clay Altemose (Apollo, PA/Apollo-Ridge), Dan Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford), Javier Solivan (San Juan, Puerto Rico/UHS) and Justin Pritchard (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) had the fastest time in the 400 medley relay. They clocked in at 3:29.76, falling short just hundredths of seconds short of a program record.

Pritchard and Simon were also a part of the winning 200 free relay, along with Hunter Backenstose (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East) and Jake DesRoches (Fairfax, VA/WT Woodson) that set a pool record with a time of 1:26.55.

Solivan was also an individual winner in the 100 freestyle. He won in a time of 47.84, while Backenstose was seventh in 49.38.

Altemose led Behrend in the 200 butterfly, earning second place in 1:58.00 and Ryan Mitcheltree (Moon Township, PA/Moon) was a close third in 2:01.01.

Simon was .07 seconds away from breaking the team record in the 200 backstroke. He was second in 1:57.77. DesRoches was fourth (2:01.50) and Gabe Romano (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) came in sixth (2:02.74).

Pritchard and Brian Mong (Franklin, PA/Franklin) each tallied a third-place finish on the day. Pritchard was the top finisher for Behrend in the 100 breaststroke in 59.96 and Mong earned a time of 4:58.33 in the 500 free. Mitcheltree was fifth in 5:02.84.

In the 3m diving finals, Andrew Neder (Fairview, PA/Fairview) finished fourth overall with a score of 333.70.

On day one, Mitcheltree set a new pool and team record in the 1650 freestyle. He won the event in 17:07.61. Simon was the second fastest finisher in the 50 free (21.73). Mong,  Steve Torre (McDonald, PA/South Fayette), Matt Myers (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) and Solivan were third in the 800 free relay (7:23.66).

The Lions return to action tomorrow for the final day of the invitational. Meet begins at 10 a.m.