Lions Headline AMCC Honors; Kachurick Repeats as Diver of the Year
Sophomore Lucas Kachurick repeats as the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Diver of the Year, while the team earns 28 All-Conference accolades announced on Wednesday.
ERIE, Pa. – Sophomore Lucas Kachurick (McKeesport, PA/Elizabeth Forward) repeats as the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Diver of the Year, while the team earns 28 All-Conference accolades announced on Wednesday.
Head coach Jen Wallace was named Co-Coach of the Year for leading the men's squad to their sixth consecutive conference title. She shares the honors with Pitt-Bradford's head coach, Ed Bahan. As a team, the Lions brought home 16 first-team and 12 second-team certificates.
Kachurick, who earned the prestigious Longnecker Invitational Diver of the Year award for a second straight year, won the three-meter diving competition and posted an NCAA qualifying score on the one-meter board in his first-place effort. Kachurick also reset his AMCC open and meet record in the one-meter preliminaries.
Clay Altemose (Apollo, PA/Apollo-Ridge) led the team in four first-place relays, while Dan Simon (Harrison City, PA/Penn-Trafford), Justin Pritchard (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) and Hunter Backenstose (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East) each helped Behrend in three relay victories to earn All-AMCC first-team honors.
Dane Dombrosky (Mt. Pleasant, PA/Mt. Pleasant), Brian Mong (Franklin, PA/Franklin), Andrew Opalewski (Slippery Rock, PA/Slippery Rock), Peter Blazak (Sewickley, PA/Quaker Valley) and Javier Solivan (San Juan, Puerto Rico/UHS) were named to the All-AMCC first team for a relay victory.
Individually, Simon and Solivan were selected to the first team twice. Simon won the 100 and 200 back for the All-Conference recognition. Solivan earned his first postseason accolades in the 200 free and 200 butterfly.
Other first-team honorees include Ryan Mitcheltree (Moon Township, PA/Moon), Eric Peirce (Harmony, PA/Seneca Valley), Blazak and Mong.
Andrew Neder (Erie, PA/Fairview) swept the second-team award in the one-meter and three-meter diving. Altemose and Pritchard were named to the second team twice, while Everett Sargent (Gibsonia, PA/Pine-Richland) and freshman Josh Schwab (Bradford, PA/Bradford) were second-team choices in the 100 free and 1650 free, respectively.
