WEBSTER, N.Y. – After the opening night of the four-day Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championships on Wednesday at Webster Aquatic Center, the Penn State Altoona women's swimming team ranked in third place out of five AMCC teams.

The Lions finished the evening with a team score of 106 points, finishing the finals session ahead of Wells College (58 points) and Pitt-Bradford (30 points). Alfred State College held down first place in the AMCC with 132 points, and Penn State Behrend was second with 126 points. In the combined AMCC-Empire 8 standings, Penn State Altoona tied for fourth place out of 10 total teams.

Penn State Altoona's night was highlighted by record-setting performances in the 'A' finals for both relay events.

In the 'A' final of the 200 Yard Medley Relay, the Lions' foursome of Teah Sponsler (Halifax, PA/Halifax), Grace Dangelo (State College, PA/State College), Madison Coleman (Altoona, PA/Tyrone), and Avery Heisey (Lancaster, PA/Conestoga Valley) combined for a time of 1:52.34 to finish in fourth place. That time set a new women's swimming team record, surpassing the previous mark of 1:55.28 set by the same four swimmers this past November 18, 2022 during the Oberlin Invitational.

The Lions set another relay record in the 800 Yard Freestyle Relay 'A' final, in which the team of Sarah Petry (St. Benedict, PA/Cambria Heights), Coleman, Dangelo, and Heisey compiled a time of 8:09.44 to take third place. Their time bested the previous team record of 8:16.05, which was set on February 16, 2022 by those four swimmers during that season's AMCC Championships.

Day two of the AMCC Championships is tomorrow, Thursday, February 16, with the preliminaries kicking off at 10 a.m. and the finals being held at 5 p.m.