BRADFORD, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's and women's swim teams opened up their 2017-18 seasons Saturday as they hosted the Panther Relays, earning first place over Penn State-Altoona, Franciscan, Jamestown Community College and Genesee Community College.
"This was a great start to the season," Head Coach Doug Alban said. "Our mantra this season has been to take care of each other, and our athletes did that, which is why we were able to come out on top. Several swimmers had lifetime bests after only four weeks of training, which is a great outlook for the remainder of the season.'
Pitt-Bradford led the way with 176 points while Penn State-Altoona finished second with 166. Genesee Community College was third with 156 and the Franciscan women's team finished fourth with 58. Jamestown Community College earned 26 points at the event.
The event is the only of its kind on the schedule, as the teams competed in mixed events and earned a combined score.
Saturday's action marked the 12th-annual Panther Relays and Pitt-Bradford earned their first ever win in the event.
The first win of the day for the Panthers came in the third event, the mixed 200-medley relay.
The team of Carey Behm, Jillian Wright, Beyleigh Duda and Chandler Nickel came out on top with a time of 2:07.32.
The Panthers kept rolling and earned a win in the fifth event, the men's 3x100-backstroke relay.
Benjamin Koss, Jared Schwab and Corey Koss finished with the best time of the five competing teams by over 15 seconds at 2:44.88.
Pitt-Bradford then earned another victory in the mixed 200-freestyle relay as Noah Frederick, Duda, Kayla Broad and Schwab earned a comfortable win at 1:45.89.
The Panthers grabbed 14 more points with a win in the men's 3x100-breaststroke relay. The team of Kevin Wang, Lucas Cerchiaro and Frederick clocked in with a convincing time of 3:18.74, over 14 seconds ahead of the second-place finishing team.
Pitt-Bradford grabbed another win in a mixed event, coming out on top in the 400-medley relay. The team of Broad, Boyd, Wright and Corey Koss timed in at 4:13.51.
The Panthers' men's team claimed a win in the 800-freestyle relay as the team of Cerchiaro, Behm, Benjamin Koss and Schwab timed in at 7:35.51.
The final win of the day came in the men's 3x100-IM relay. Frederick, Cerchiaro and Ben Koss earned the victory at 2:58.76.
Pitt-Bradford will begin the dual meet portion of its schedule next Saturday as it hosts Cabrini.
