FREDONIA, N.Y. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford swim teams wrapped up the three-day mid-season meet at Fredonia Sunday.
"I could not be more proud of how the team competed and came together this weekend," Head Coach Douglas Alban said. "We are in a great position heading into the end of the semester with our training trip on the horizon. I know there are even bigger accomplishments to come once we get to our conference championships."
The Pitt-Bradford men's team finished in fifth place with 381.5 points while the women's team finished ninth with 96 points.
The day's action was highlighted by the men's 400-freestyle relay school record going down as the team of Lucas Cerchiaro, Carey Behm, Benjamin Koss and Corey Koss finished with a time of 3:15.73. This new record in the final event of the meet tops the previous school record of 3:17.41, which had been achieved twice in program history.
Benjamin Koss got things started for the Panthers with a strong showing in the 200-backstroke, finishing third with a time of 2:00.68, and Corey Koss grabbed eighth place in the event with a time of 32.48.
Jared Schwab later grabbed seventh place in the 100-freestyle with a time of 49.67 to score for the Panthers.
Jillian Wright scored for the Panthers women's team in the 200-breaststroke. Wright finished 12th with a time of 2:44.54, competing in the 'B' final.
In the men's 200-breaststroke, Noah Frederick finished 11th with a time of 2:17.94 in the 'B' final, trimming nearly four seconds off his preliminaries time of 2:21.70. His time would have put him in eighth place in the 'A' final.
In the 200-butterfly, Devyn Condon finished 11th in the 'B' final with a time of 2:10.61.
Carey Behm later scored for the Panthers with a ninth-place finish in the 1,650-freestyle with a time of 18:01.76. Justin Aharrah also swam the event and finished with a time good enough to score at 19:27.86.
The Pitt-Bradford women's team concluded action in the Fredonia meet with the 400-freestyle relay. The team of Kayla Broad, Danica Andrews, Beyleigh Duda and Wright finished with a time of 4:22.27.
In addition to the third-place finishing, school-record breaking 'A' group in the men's 400-freestyle relay, the team of Nicholas Boyd, Aharrah, Frederick and Devin Kerr finished also swam the event and finished with a time of 4:31.79.
In total, the Panthers men's program set new school records in seven different events (50-freestyle, 800-freestyle relay, 200-freestyle, 400-IM, 100-backstroke, 200-medley relay and 400-medley relay) during the weekend's meet.
In addition to the accomplishments in the pool, this meet was a special one for another reason.
"This was Lucas Cerchiaro's final meet as a Panther in Bradford, as he will transfer to main campus for the spring semester," Alban said. "He will be leaving us on a very high note, having accomplished all the goals he set out to achieve. On behalf of the whole team, I wish him the best and hope that he may be able to continue being a Panther in Oakland."
The men's and women's swim programs will be idle until Jan. 13, 2018, when Wells and Buffalo State come to the Paul C. Duke III Aquatics Center for the Panthers' first home meet since Oct. 28.
