This past week, the Behrend swimming and diving teams hosted the annual AMCC Conference Tournament. From February 14-17, the best swimmers of the AMCC faced off in one of the biggest tournaments of the year. The men’s team was able to capture their 12th consecutive conference title, while the women’s team took a very respectable second place.

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The men’s team dominated the tournament, taking first by a 340 point margin over the runner up, Pitt-Bradford. The Lions sat in second after the first day of action, claiming a win in the 800 meter freestyle relay and second place on the three meter dive. Behrend started to dominate the tournament on the second day of competition. Mark Patterson broke the pool, conference, team and conference meet records in the 500 meter freestyle. Behrend grabbed every place on the podium except first in the 200 meter individual medleys, with Liam Watterson taking runner up at the event and Steve Owens taking third. Quinn Fischer, Alex Croll, Justin Spence and Ryan Siggins made up the second place team in the 200 meter freestyle relay. On day three, the Lions’ lead increased almost exponentially, as Patterson again broke four records, this time in the 200 meter freestyle, and Owens swam at a clip of 52.60 in the 100 meter butterfly to gain the gold. Brady Mattson also placed second in the 400 individual medley relay at a clip of 4:23.72.

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The Lions did not lose a step on the final day of the tournament. Behrend swimmers broke a grand total of 13 records on the day, which extended their large lead to its final margin of 340. Mattson broke six individual records on the day, as he obtained the team, conference and conference meet records in the 1650 meter freestyle as well as the team, meet and conference records in the mile. Noah Babik broke four records in the 200 meter breaststroke with Ryan Elsey taking runner up. Patterson continued his reign as AMCC Swimmer of the Year and hit an NCAA “B” cut time in the 200 meter backstroke.

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The women’s team started out strong and held first place after the first day. Four records were broken by Behrend swimmers on the day, including two by Gwendolyn Lowry in the first leg of the 800 meter freestyle relay. Behrend was able to hang on to their slim two point lead after the second day of competition. Maryn Horn, Paola Maldonado, Devon Van Rensburg and Jessica Wyckoff combined to set the conference meet, conference and team record in the 200 meter freestyle relay. Lowry and Horn went on to win the 200 meter individual medley and 50 meter freestyle, respectively. Horn, Van Rensburg, Lowery and Wyckoff rounded out the afternoon by winning the 400 meter medley relay.

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Despite winning all six events on the third day of competition, the Lions fell to second place to the Cabrini Cavaliers. Abigail Witmer, Van Rensburg, Lowry, and Maldonado started the day with a win in the 200 meter medley relay. Lowry then claimed victory in the 400 meter individual medley, and Horn obtained gold in the 100 meter breaststroke. Heading into the final day of the tournament, the Lions were facing a small deficit of four points to Cabrini. Unfortunately, this deficit only grew larger and Behrend took second at the event. Lowry was named the AMCC Swimmer of the Year for her performance over the season and in the conference tournament. Behrend attempted to keep it close, as Lacey Grinnen took third in the 1650 meter freestyle and Witmer was the runner up in the 200 meter backstroke. Behrend swimmers placed first through third in the 100 meter freestyle, those being Wyckoff, Horn and Maldonado, respectively. The team did defeat the Cavaliers in the final relay, but by then there was no time to make up the deficit set on day three.

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The swimming and diving season has concluded after another pair of very successful seasons both for the men and women. Both teams return several of their key swimmers and divers next season, so hopefully they could have even more prosperous endeavors in the future. .