GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving team extended their Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships to eight straight titles on Saturday evening at Grove City.
The Lions won five out of seven events on the final day to earn 269 points and edge out Penn State Altoona with 207 total points. Pitt-Bradford was in third with 126 and Cabrini came in fourth (103). Behrend never trailed during the championships and are still the only team to take home the conference crown.
Ryan Mitcheltree (Moon Township, PA/Moon) repeats as champion in the 1650 freestyle. He won the title and finished fifth overall with a time of 17:10.75, which is six seconds faster than his best this season. Lloyd Koester (Edinboro, PA/General McLane) was third in the AMCC and second for the Lions in the 1650 free with a time of 18:14.43.
Nick Kost (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) set three records on his way to be named champion in the 200 backstroke. He set a new AMCC meet, open and school record with a time of 1:56.44. Manny Meinen (Bellefonte, PA/Bellefonte ) was third in the conference with a time of 2:09.70.
In the 100 freestyle, Dan Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford) took home the silver medal after being edged out by Evan Strickland of Cabrini. He touched in 48.12 for fifth overall. Steve Torre (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) was fourth in the conference in 49.53.
The Lions had their best showing in the 200 breaststroke. Eric Matteson (Corry, PA/Corry) came in second in the AMCC (2:16.10), Scott Romanko (Plum, PA/Plum) was third (2:19.04),Victor Nguyen (San Jose, CA/Evergreen Valley) was fourth (2:20.91) and Garrett Wagner (State College, PA/State College) was fifth (2:22.01).
Nick Roth (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) and Mitcheltree went one and two in the 200 butterfly. Roth was the champion and senveth overall in 1:58.09 and Mitcheltree tallied a time of 2:02.76.
Behrend sealed the win with a first-place finish in the 400 free relay. Simon, Roth, Ty Elder (Brentwood, CA/Heritage) and Torre touched in 3:13.65, six seconds faster than their seeded time.
