Behrend Remains On Top at AMCC Championships

GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's swimming and diving team had three individual winners and two relay to remain on top of the leaderboard out of five teams at the 2012 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships on Friday.

The Lions more than doubled their score from day one to finish the second day of competition with 204 points to stay in first place with one day remaining.

MaryEllen Spooner (Lockhaven, PA/West Springfield) and Julie Cook (Warren, PA/Warren) were double winners on the night.  Spooner won the 100 backstroke with a record-breaking time of 1:00.26. The junior broke her own record for the AMCC open and meet but also the team record she set last year. Katie Siffrinn (Canonsburg, PA/Canon-McMillan) came in second place in the same event with a time of 1:02.00.

Cook led Behrend in the 100 breaststroke, also breaking three records in the process. Her time of 1:08.22 in the preliminaries broke the team record, AMCC open and meet record. Cook tallied a first-place time of 1:09.75. Hilary MacManus (Beaver Falls, PA/Blackhawk) took third place in the AMCC in the 100 backstroke, clocking in at 1:14.05.

Anne Lawrence (State College, PA/State College) was the third individual winner on the night. She won the 100 butterfly for the conference and finished seventh overall with a time of 1:00.90.

Three records were also broken in the 200 medley relay. Siffrinn, Cook, Lawrence and MacManus combined for a time of 1:51.25 for first place in the AMCC, resetting the conference open and meet record and the team record.

Lawrence added her third first-place finish in the 800 free relay. She joined Siffrinn, Spooner and Jesse Dunleavy (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) for a time of 8:37.52.

Behrend returns to action on tomorrow for final two sessions of the AMCC Championships. Preliminaries begin at 10 a.m.