Allegheny Narrowly Defeats Behrend, 119-117

Complete Results

ERIE, Pa.  – In a non-conference swim meet that came down to the final two events, the Allegheny Gators touched first in the 200 yard breaststroke and the 200 free relay to edge the Penn State Behrend Lions 119-117 on Saturday afternoon in the Junker Center.

For the Lions, freshman diver Lucas Kachurick hit an NCAA qualifying score and set a new program record for one-meter diving with a 299.80 total for six attempts. He was over 100 points away from the second-place.

Behrend won six events, starting with the 400 medley relay. Hunter Backenstose, Steve Torre, Clay Altemose and Brendan Lacey combined for a time of 3:41.03.

Brian Mong followed with a first-place finish in the 1,000 freestyle in 10:21.61, before Lacey, Backenstose and Dane Dombrosky came in 2-3-4 in the 200 freestyle, respectively. Lacey was .78 tenths of a second away from Allegheny’s Brandon Intrieri.

In the 200 IM, the Lions grabbed the top two spots thanks to Torre and Josh Weaver. Torre won in 2:03.23 and Weaver came in second with a time of 2:07.77. Weaver also won the 100 free in 49.97. 

Kachurick won both the one-meter and three-meter diving, while Lacey came in a close second in the 500 freestyle in 4:54.48. After Kachurick’s score of 284.45 in the three-meter, .55 points shy of another NCAA qualifying score, the Lions came in second in the final events to fall by two points to the regional rival.

In close races, Torre was second in the 200 breaststroke (2:20.83) and was edged by Andrew Bean of the Gators with a time of 2:19.79. It was even a tighter race in the 200 free relay with the Lions taking second in 1:30.03 with a team of Weaver, Everett Sargent, Dombrosky and Peter Blazak. Behrend had the short lead until the final leg.

The Lions return to action next Saturday at St. Vincent. Meet time is 1 p.m.