Men's Swimming and Diving Captures Blue Devil Invitational

FREDONIA, NY – The Penn State Behrend men's swimming and diving had three swimmers hit an NCAA qualifying times en route to winning the Fredonia Blue Devil Invitational on Saturday evening.

Score: Behrend 1^st out of five teams (1043.5 points), Allegheny (2^nd – 668.5), Fredonia (3^rd – 556), Brockport (4^th – 452), Alfred State (5^th – 417)

Key Moments:

* The Lions held a 375-point advantage over second-place Allegheny to win the Blue Devil Invitational
* Behrend set seven new records on the final day of competition
* James Connolly (Allentown, PA/Parkland) won the 1650 freestyle in an AMCC, school and Fredonia pool record and NCAA "B" cut time of 16:16.50.
* Connolly also broke the 1000 freestyle AMCC and school records in 9:52.00 while swimming his way to a first-place finish in the 1650 freestyle.
* Chase Bietz (Clearfield, PA/Clearfield) won the 200 breaststroke in a record-breaking time 2:04.23. He set a new AMCC and school record with an NCAA B cut time.
* Mark Patterson (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) won the 200 backstroke with an NCAA B cut time of 1:49.83, while Liam Watterson (Brentwood, PA/Baldwin) was second overall (1:58.19)
* Patterson, Bietz, Connolly and Quinn Fischer (Fairview, PA/Cathedral Prep) combined forces to win the 400 freestyle relay by seven seconds in 3:08.62
* Matt Karenbauer (Butler, PA/Knoch) led the way for the Lions in the 200 butterfly, taking second in 1:55.88, while Alex Croll (Honolulu, HI/Roosevelt) was third with Behrend's top time of 48.47

Next Up

* The Lions return to action after the New Year with Washington & Jefferson at home on Saturday, January 12. The dual meet begins at 1 p.m.