Penn State Behrend’s swimming and diving teams got off to a rough start in their season opener a couple weekends ago. The teams participated in the Grove City First Splash on October 13, and unfortunately came up short against their opponent. The men’s team took third out of four teams with a final score of 597.5, just 2.5 above the last placed Clarion Golden Eagles. The women’s team, on the other hand, placed last and scored under 200 points.

​

However, the teams had more impressive showings this past weekend against the Alfred State Pioneers. During their first of five home meets this season, the men’s team took home a 135-point victory, while the women’s team came up just short, losing by a score of 153-139.

​

The men were propelled to victory by solid performances in a variety of individual and team events. Mark Patterson led the 200-meter relay team of himself, Chase Bietz, Matt Karenbauer and Quinn Fischer to a first place finish at clip of over 10 seconds ahead of Alfred State’s A team. Three Behrend swimmers claimed the top three spots in the 1000-yard  and 200-yard freestyle event. Patterson again led the Lions with a five-second victory, just ahead of Behrend’s Liam Watterson. Bietz had individual wins in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events. Karenbauer and Watterson took first and third, respectively, in the 200-yard individual medley. Last but not least, freshman James Connolly won two events, those being 1000 and 500 freestyle events. Alfred State was unable to take first in any event in which a Behrend swimmer also participated.

​

The women were unable to replicate the men’s success on this day, and, as mentioned, fell 14 points short. Like the men’s team, the women started the day with a win in the 200-yard medley relay. The winning team was comprised of Abby Witmer, Barbie Cessar, Valerie Grimes, and Jessica Wyckoff. Marcella Puglia kept the momentum going with a victory in the 1000-yard freestyle in spite of three Pioneer swimmers that followed close behind and took second, third and fourth. Alfred State’s Jessie Larue stalled Behrend’s momentum with a win in the 200-yard freestyle about 2.5 seconds ahead of Wyckoff.

​

What really hurt Behrend in this matchup was the disparity in placements, meaning that there would often be a few Pioneer swimmers right behind a Behrend winner in a given event, such as the 1000-yard freestyle mentioned above. Either that would happen or a couple Pioneer swimmers would take the top spots in an event, such as the 50-yard freestyle, in which Larue and Lizzy Drake took the top two spots. Puglia had two more individual wins, while Witmer and and Cassar also racked up three individual events. It was not enough to overcome the Pioneers, but the team showed much improvement from their opener and will look to get their first victory sooner rather than later.

​

The swimming and diving teams will get back in the pool at Westminster this Saturday at noon for their last meet of the month.