WEBSTER, N.Y. – The Penn State Altoona men's swimming team started this week's Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships in third place by the conclusion of Wednesday's opening night of the event, hosted jointly by the AMCC and the Empire 8 athletic conferences at Webster Aquatic Center.

Penn State Altoona men's swimming scored 98 points on Wednesday, while competing in a pair of relay events and setting new team records in each. The Lions rank third out of four AMCC teams, ahead of fourth-place Pitt-Bradford and its total of 60 points, while also being fifth out of seven teams in the combined AMCC-Empire 8 meet.

Alfred State College leads the pack of AMCC teams and also ranks first overall, totaling 181 points after day one. Penn State Behrend is second in the AMCC with 141 points.

The Lions started Wednesday night's finals session by competing in the 200 Yard Medley Relay. In the 'A' final of that event, Penn State Altoona took third place in the AMCC and fifth overall when the group of Eugene Heyman (Boiling Springs, PA/Boiling Springs), Adam Dotts (Hummelstown, PA/Lower Dauphin), Hunter McMullen (Colver, PA/Central Cambria), and Rocco Solimeo (Harrisburg, PA/Bishop McDevitt) combined for a time of 1:36.08.

Heyman, Dotts, McMullen, and Solimeo's time set a new Penn State Altoona men's swimming team record in the 200 Yard Medley Relay, edging the previous record of 1:36.43, which was set by former Lions Luke Pletz, Noah Jordan, Laurence Wang, and Isaac Swanson on February 16, 2022 during that year's AMCC Championships.

Penn State Altoona also scored points in the 'B' final of the 200 Yard Medley Relay, as the team of Brian Nguyen (Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township), Adam McGlynn (Ebensburg, PA/Central Cambria), Lincoln Johnson (Huntingtown, MD/Huntingtown), and Caden Traggiai (Sarver, PA/Knoch) took sixth place in the AMCC with a total time of 1:40.88.

The night's second and final event was the 800 Yard Freestyle Relay. In that 'A' final, Traggiai, Adam Marawan (Dubai, UAE/GEMS Dubai American Academy), Jack Zisa (Yardley, PA/Pennsbury), and Dotts posted a total time of 7:12.59 to finish as AMCC runners-up while placing fourth overall.

That group also set a new Penn State Altoona record, as Traggiai, Marawan, Zisa, and Dotts' time of 7:12.59 established a new team record in the 800 Yard Freestyle Relay. The previous record was 7:21.26, which was set last February 15 during the AMCC Championships by Marawan, Zisa, and former Lions Swanson and Ethan Andrews.

In the 'B' final of the 800 Yard Freestyle Relay, Nguyen, McGlynn, Joseph Fazio (Conshohocken, PA/Plymouth Whitemarsh), and Luke Schnoor (Middletown, PA/Lower Dauphin) combined for a time of 7:46.34 to place seventh in the AMCC.

The AMCC Championships resume tomorrow, Thursday, February 15, for day two of four. Preliminaries are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., and the finals session will take place at 5 p.m. Thursday's finals will consist of the 500 Yard Freestyle, 200 Yard I.M., 50 Yard Freestyle, and 200 Yard Freestyle Relay.