Lions Win President’s Cup and Peak Performer Award

Student-athletes recognized for academic and athletic achievements

For the second time in three years, Penn State Behrend has earned the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Institutional Peak Performer Award. The award is given annually to the AMCC member with the highest percentage of student-athletes named to the Academic All-Conference Team. The Lions placed 60.14 percent of their student-athletes on the team. Behrend student-athletes also captured six Team Peak Performer awards (women’s soccer, women’s tennis, women’s swimming and diving, women’s basketball, men’s basketball, and men’s wrestling); the award recognizes the team with the highest collective cumulative grade point average in each sport.

Also, at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, the Penn State Behrend Lions captured the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) President’s Cup for the twentieth time in program history. Behrend won three conference championships in men’s and women’s cross country and men’s tennis. The Lions were

Other notable athletics news:

f The outdoor men’s and women’s track and field teams broke several records this season. On the women’s side, Julia Balaski set a new javelin record (38.10 meters) and Olivia Nola broke a twenty-one-year-old school record in the 1500 meter with a 4:35.00. For the men, Dan Dabrowski broke the discus record with a distance of 51.13 meters and Aidan Domencic set a new steeplechase time of 940.19. Additionally, Dabrowski and Sam Hetrick (high jump) both earned All-America honors, increasing Behrend’s All-American total to twenty-three. Hetrick’s indoor season was historic. He became the NCAA runnerup in the high jump, and his best mark of 2.15m (7 foot, 0.5 inches), was the fourteenth best ever in NCAA DIII.

runner-up in women’s soccer, men’s soccer, women’s tennis, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, baseball, softball, and men’s volleyball.

f Men’s tennis dominated the AMCC with an undefeated season and winning back-to-back titles. The Lions also won the AMCC regular-season championship and had seven players named to the All-Conference Team. First-year student Ritvik Nadikude was selected the 2023 AMCC Player and Newcomer of the Year, while head coach Jeff Barger was named Coach of the Year.

f Nic Darrell and Marley Persch broke program records for women’s water polo this season. Darrell broke the season record for steals (112) and set a new record for most steals in a game (11), while Persch broke the season (11) and game (3) records for drawn penalty kicks.

Behrend Cheer Team Places Second in National Competition

Benim inducted into Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame

Paul Benim, head coach of the Behrend baseball team, is a fixture at the college. He arrived as a student in 1988 and never left.

“I’m still here because I saw what Behrend could be, and I also hoped for that,” he said.

Penn State Behrend’s competitive cheer team recently made history, earning the college’s first nationally ranked cheerleading trophy. The team, led by coach Kelli Carpinello, took second place in the 2023 NCA College Cheer National Championships, the highest-ranking competition for collegiate cheerleading, held in Daytona Beach, Florida, in April.

Cheerleading is a club sport at Behrend, but Carpinello and the students involved in the club take it as seriously as a competitive sport.

The team typically practices three times a week, and team members are required to work out at least twice a week on their own. Tumblers are asked to attend open-gym sessions weekly.

Carpinello, who also works as a financial aid coordinator at Behrend, coaches two cheer teams—Game Day Cheer and Competitive Cheer—and the college’s Dance Team. All three clubs have grown considerably under her guidance, with more than 35 students participating in the 2022-23 academic year.

“We’ve seen a lot of growth in the past couple of years,” Carpinello said. “I believe that post-COVID, people wanted to get out and do more. Most of these stu- dents missed out on memorable events at the end of their high school years and the beginning of their college years. This past fall, we had a record number of people try out for cheer.”

Behrend Magazine talked with Lauren Hanke, a member of the Competitive Cheer club, to learn more about the club’s big win.

Q: Tell us about the Florida competition. Hanke: The competition was three days long, with routines starting at 8 a.m. and going until 9 p.m. We competed in the Spirit Rally Division. After our Day 1 performance, we were in second place, only one point behind first place. Our Day 2 scores were then combined with our Day 1 performance, which ultimately resulted in our team claiming second place. We were very proud!

Q: Were there any special moments or memories you want to share?

Hanke: The tradition at the NCA competition after winning a title is to run into the ocean with the trophy to celebrate everyone’s hard work over the past eight months. I think the team would agree that this was the most memorable experience for us. There were a lot of tears, hugs, and, of course, cheers!

Benim played baseball for the college while completing a bachelor’s degree in business and behavioral science. After graduating, he coached the women’s softball team for three years before becoming head coach of the baseball team.

He is the all-time leader in baseball coaching victories at Behrend, recently notching his 700th win over twenty-eight seasons. In June, he’ll be inducted into the Metro Erie chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, one of a nine-member class.

It’s a much-deserved honor for Benim, who has established Behrend as one of the best baseball programs in the Mid-Atlantic region. The program has made the AMCC Tournament twenty-three times, won six regular season and six conference tournament titles, and finished runner-up eight times. He has guided the Behrend Lions to five ECAC championships and five NCAA Division III tournament appearances, the last in 2021.

Benim was inducted into the Wesleyville, Iroquois, Lawrence Park Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Behrend Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.