Men’s Swimming Holds Third After Day Two at AMCC Championships
WEBSTER, N.Y. – After the second day of the four-day Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships on Thursday at the Webster Aquatic Center, the Penn State Altoona men's swimming team remained in third place out of five teams.
The Lions added 108 points to their total during Thursday night's finals session, and Penn State Altoona now has 182 points through two days of competition, ranking ahead of Pitt-Bradford (81 points) and SUNY Delhi (78 points).
Penn State Behrend holds a commanding lead for first place with 403 points, ahead of second place Alfred State College and its total of 230 points.
Isaac Swanson (Clearfield, PA/Clearfield) highlighted the men's swimming team's night on Thursday, winning the 200 Yard Freestyle and also setting a new team record in that swim. Additionally, the Lions' 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team earned a second place AMCC finish while also establishing a new team record time.
In the 200 Yard Freestyle championship final, Swanson defeated all AMCC swimmers – along with the other competing Empire 8 conference swimmers – to take first place with a time of 1:41.97. That time sets a new Penn State Altoona men's swimming program record, besting the previous record of 1:47.05.
Penn State Altoona also had a great showing in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, in which the team of Swanson, Kieran McKee (York, PA/West York), Taylor Bohn (Chadds Ford, PA/Unionville), and Tanner Yaw (Palmyra, PA/Palmyra) took runner-up status in the AMCC by finishing second in the conference with a combined time of 1:27.59. That time edges the previous team record of 1:27.77, which was set during the 2014 AMCC Championships by former swimmers Ben Porter, Keenan Halpin, Alex Fisher, and Kyle Huber.
Yaw qualified for the championship final in the 100 Yard Butterfly, placing third in the AMCC with a time of 53.38.
In addition to the Lions' second place squad in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, the team of Bryce Bauer (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone), Aravind Gnanasekaran (King of Prussia, PA/Methacton), HaoYing Hsieh (Allison Park, PA/North Alleghany), and Tyler Stauss (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) also competed in that event, taking sixth place overall within the AMCC while competing in the 'B' final.
McKee swam in the consolation final for the 100 Yard Butterfly, ranking first among AMCC swimmers in that cut and fourth place overall within the AMCC by posting a time of 54.22.
Penn State Altoona had two squads compete in the night's final event, the 400 Yard Medley Relay. The Lions' 'A' squad of Swanson, Gnanasekaran, Yaw, and McKee took third place within the AMCC by clocking in at 3:39.97, while the 'B' team of Michael Begany (Strongsville, OH/Strongsville), Bohn, Stauss, and Hsieh was ninth within the AMCC with a total time of 3:58.34.
Day three of the AMCC Championships is tomorrow, Friday, February 21. Preliminaries start the day at 10:00 a.m., followed by another round of finals at 5:30 p.m. To view the week's full schedule, visit the official website of the AMCC Championships HERE.
