Simon Breaks School Record in the 200 Backstroke; Lions Swim Past Penn State Altoona

ERIE, Pa. – Dan Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn Trafford) broke the school record in the 200 backstroke to lead the Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving team past Penn State Altoona 121-72 Saturday afternoon.

Simon finished with a time of 1:54:37 and won the event by more than 20 seconds. He also finished second in the 100 breaststroke to teammate Victor Nguyen (San Jose, CA/Evergreen Valley). Nguyen took the event by under a half of a second clocking in with a time of 1:01.30.

Nick Roth (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) won two events on the day taking the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. Roth checked in a 22.84 time in the 50 and finished with a time of 50.12 in the 100.

The Lions swept the 1000 freestyle with strong performances by Ryan Mitcheltree (Moon Township, PA/Moon), Nick Kost (Ashburn, VA/Stone Bridge) and Will Belsterling (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley). The trio finished with times of 10:51.78, 11:02.11 and 12:27.02, respectively.

In the 200 freestyle Matt Myers (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) picked up the victory ticking in at 1:56.65. Jake Ekas (Erie, PA/McDowell) notched the win in the 100 backstroke. Ekas finshed over five seconds faster than the second place finisher and posted a time of 55.60.

Behrend won the 200 medley relay by over six seconds. Eric Matteson (Corry, PA/Corry), Ekas, Kost and Simon put together strong performances to seal the victory.

The Lions dive back to action January 17 when they host Washington and Jefferson at 1 p.m.