BEHREND MEN CRUISE TO 13TH CONSECUTIVE SWIMMING/DIVING TITLE

Penn St. Behrend left the rest of the field in their wake on Saturday, winning their thirteenth consecutive AMCC title in as many years.

The Lions were never threatened, winning all of the swimming events on both Thursday and Saturday.  They were led by senior Mark Patterson, who was named the High Point Scorer of the meet.

The race for second place went to Alfred State College (421 points), followed by Pitt-Bradford (228) in third. Penn State Altoona (223) finished fourth, with SUNY Delhi (119) rounding out the field.

Highlight performances on the final day of competition included Behrend freshman James Connolly who swam an NCAA 'B' cut time in the 1650 freestyle and broke six records in the process. He set a new AMCC Meet, AMCC Open and Team record in the 1650 with a time of 16:06.60 and also did the same in the first 1000m of the race. For the fourth straight year, Patterson has been crowned AMCC Champion in the 200 backstroke. He swam an NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:49.74 to set a new AMCC Meet and pool record. Despite not swimming in the 100 free race, Patterson set four records on the first leg of the 400 freestyle relay, swimming 46.28 to break the team, pool, AMCC Meet and Open records. The 400 freestyle relay team finished the meet in dramatic fashion, breaking the team record, AMCC Meet and Open records with a time of 3:07.17. Freshman Chase Bietz broke two records on the way to being named AMCC Champion in the 200 breaststroke, as he set a new AMCC Meet and pool record with a time of 2:05.73.

Alfred State junior Ethan Dale registered the top individual performance for the Pioneers in the pool with his third in the 200 butterfly, finishing in 2:02.05. The 400 free relay team of Tim Olin, Ryan McDowell, Nate Miller, and Dale capped off the event with a second place finish in 3:21.70. Sophomore Austin Miller, the AMCC Diver of the Year, completed the diving sweep with a victory on the 3m board. He scored 484.45 points to claim the title and earn another spot in the NCAA Regionals.

For the first time, the conference announced their season award winners at the meet.  Honorees were selected based on points scored at the championship.  The 2018-19 winners are:

Swimmer of the Year:  Mark Patterson, Penn St. Behrend

Diver of the Year: Austin Miller, Alfred State College

Newcomer of the Year: Chase Bietz, Penn St. Behrend

Coach of the Year: Jen Wallace, Penn St. Behrend

The complete all-conference team and award winners will be posted on Wednesday.

Click here for the complete meet results.