No. 3 Men's Swimming Knocks Off No. 1 UCSD

Saturday, January 7

La Jolla, CA

12:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

146

116

UC San Diego

Kotsur took first in the 500 and 1000 free events today.

1/7/2012 4:02:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

The Grand Canyon University men’s swimming team, ranked No. 3 in the CollegeSwimming.com/CSCAA Coaches poll, defeated No. 1 UC San Diego, 146-116, today at the Canyonview Aquatics Center in San Diego, Calif.

The No. 3 GCU women fell, 159-103, to top-ranked UCSD. Despite the loss, the Antelope ladies showed their continued growth, topping the 100-point threshold.

“Overall, I couldn’t be more proud of our swimmers and coaches today,” said head coach Steve Schaffer. “We accomplished pretty much everything we set out to do in this meet. It was a great way to start the second half of our season.”

Buddy Turner paced the men today, recording four first-place swims. Turner helped both the 400 medley (3:21.72) and 200 free relay (1:23.18) squads to victory. He also won the 50 free (20.65) and 100 fly events (49.57).

Kyle Shores had a strong day in the pool, taking first in the 100 free (46.32) and 100 back (50.49). He was also on the winning 200 free relay team.

The top-two swimmers in the 100 breast went head-to-head, with GCU’s Eetu Karvonen, ranked No. 2, winning over top-ranked Nick Korth. Karvonen clocked in at 55.11. He was also the winner in the 200 breast with a time of 2:00.70. Karvonen swam on the winning 400 medley relay.

Ivan Nechunaev took first in the 200 fly and (1:50.50) and 200 IM (1:52.42), with teammate Everton Kida winning the 200 back (1:54.06).

“Our guys did a great job of racing today,” said Schaffer. “We have been working very hard through the winter break and even though they were pretty beat up, they stepped up and really put up some fast times today. It was a complete team victory. Every one of our guys scored points for us today.”

Today's win continues to set the table for the overall goal that men are shooting for this season.

“We have been telling our swimmers that they have to show that they can actually swim like champions because teams like UCSD, Drury, and Incarnate Word already know what it takes to win and they are not going to just step aside because we want to win,” added Schaffer. “They showed a lot of the type of character that it will take to challenge for the NCAA Championship in March.”

The women were led by Inha Kotsur and Mychala Lynch.

Kotsur continued her mastery of the long events, winning the 500 free (5:04.15) and 1000 free (10:27.97).

Lynch took home top honors in the 100 fly (56.20) and 50 free (24.29). Lynch holds the fastest time in D-II in the 100 fly this season.

Stacey Wymer was the other winner of the women’s side. She won the 100 back with a time of 59.54.

“Our women may not have won, but they achieved our goal of scoring more points than we ever have before against UCSD,” said Schaffer. “We had some really great efforts by our girls and this was another step forward for them. All of these girls will be returning next year and with the recruits we have coming in next year, we can start talking about being able to really challenge quality teams like UCSD.”

Both squads will return to California on Jan.21, when they will face Biola in La Mirada, Calif.

Full results can be viewed here.