Completed Event: Men's Swimming and Diving versus Arizona Christian on December 13, 2025 ,
M Swimming
vs Arizona Christian
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Saturday, October 19
Bakersfield, CA
12 p.m.
Grand Canyon
at
CSU Bakersfield
Catherine Polito
Photo by: Darryl Webb
'Lopes Look to Create Waves in D-I Debut
10/18/2013 12:42:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving
The Grand Canyon University men's and women's swimming programs will step onto the starters block for their first taste of competition in the Division I waters tomorrow at a meet in Bakersfield, Calif. The program excelled as a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, providing two top-four national finishes by the men and a fourth-place national finish by the women in the past three seasons.
The men will be without five-time NCAA Champion Eetu Karvonen, who graduated this spring, but will look to make a strong first impression among their new Western Athletic Conference foes.
"Our men's team should be in the thick of the WAC Conference race," said head coach Steve Schaffer. "UNLV is most likely the top team in the conference this year, but after that I think all of the teams will be in a fight for 2nd through 7th place. We hope to be towards the top end."
The women will face a few more obstacles this year with the loss of key swimmers like NCAA Champion Mychala Lynch, but the team is steadily building for an impactful future in the top levels of competition.
"We have our work cut out for us this year," added Schaffer. "Our women are excited about the move to the D-I level and they are working hard, but we still have some rebuilding to do through recruiting this year. I think it will be difficult for us to finish in the top half of the conference this year, but we will be working to place as high as we can at the WAC Championships."
Both the men and women will have the opportunity to swim in the conference championship meet, despite GCU's four-year transitional probation, due to there not being an automatic NCAA qualifier attached to the event.
The men's season will highlight some interesting internal battles, especially in the breast stroke events where Aslan Burbayev, Youssef El Kamash, and Tom Wahlers will attempt to step up to try and follow in the footsteps of Karvonen.
"I am anxious to see all of our new guys in action," said Schaffer. "We had a very deep recruiting class and it will be good to see how we can compete right off the bat. Iegor Lytvenok is arguably the most versatile swimmer on the team and is very fast. Illya Glazunov will challenge Michael Branning for the top sprinter spot in the 50 and 100 free, so those will be interesting races. Stanislav Sakiko has been very impressive in the mid-distance free and he and John Feely will make for a good 1-2 punch in those events. Everton Kida is looking very good in the backstrokes, and Ivan Nechunaev should do well in the fly events."
Branning returns for his senior season after earning the title of the 'Fastest Swimmer' by winning the 50 free at the NCAA D-II Championships in a time of 19.81. Nechunaev is back after being named the RMAC Academic Men's Swimmer of the Year, as well as being named to the Capital One Academic All-America Division II Men's Team and the recipient of the prestigious Elite 89 award for the 2013 NCAA Division II Men's Swimming Championship.
The women's team will be bolstered by a pair of incoming recruits that could make an immediate splash and a host of seasoned veterans.
"Our two new recruits Hannah Kastigar and Jovanna Koens are legitimate D-I level swimmers and should race very well in their event this weekend," added Schaffer. "I am interested to see how they race against some very strong competition. Rebecca Coan and Hannah Peseau have been looking very good in practice and should compete well in their fly and back events. Kathleen Robertson has been very good early on in the breaststroke and should race well. Catherine Polito and Samantha Magnani will have some very tough races in the sprint and mid-distance free events, but both have been looking good in practice, so I think the competition will bring out some good performances for them. Inha Kotsur and Faith Heinz should do well in the distance free events – they have looked good starting off the season."
Looking ahead to this opening weekend, Schaffer shared additional thoughts on facing Bakersfield and Seattle U, two other Western Athletic Conference programs.
On the men's meet: "It should be a very exciting meet. The teams are very evenly matched. Bakersfield has divers and so we will essentially start the meet behind by about 26 points. We will have to win most of the swimming events to be able to make up that differential. If our guys step up and swim really well, we have a shot. Against Seattle we are a bit more evenly matched. They do not have divers either, so we will start out even. Last year, when they swam this meet against Bakersfield, they had a very good meet. The meet could come down to the last relay like it did for us against ASU last year. If it does, like the ASU meet, we should be able to win the last event."
On the women's meet: "On paper, Bakersfield looks to be a bit too strong for us, especially with diving. I know we will compete well and we will win our share of events, but they are a very good team. Seattle should be a closer meet for us and one we have a chance to win. I am counting on our women to start the season with some strong performances so we can try to come away with a split this weekend."
The men will be without five-time NCAA Champion Eetu Karvonen, who graduated this spring, but will look to make a strong first impression among their new Western Athletic Conference foes.
"Our men's team should be in the thick of the WAC Conference race," said head coach Steve Schaffer. "UNLV is most likely the top team in the conference this year, but after that I think all of the teams will be in a fight for 2nd through 7th place. We hope to be towards the top end."
The women will face a few more obstacles this year with the loss of key swimmers like NCAA Champion Mychala Lynch, but the team is steadily building for an impactful future in the top levels of competition.
"We have our work cut out for us this year," added Schaffer. "Our women are excited about the move to the D-I level and they are working hard, but we still have some rebuilding to do through recruiting this year. I think it will be difficult for us to finish in the top half of the conference this year, but we will be working to place as high as we can at the WAC Championships."
Both the men and women will have the opportunity to swim in the conference championship meet, despite GCU's four-year transitional probation, due to there not being an automatic NCAA qualifier attached to the event.
The men's season will highlight some interesting internal battles, especially in the breast stroke events where Aslan Burbayev, Youssef El Kamash, and Tom Wahlers will attempt to step up to try and follow in the footsteps of Karvonen.
"I am anxious to see all of our new guys in action," said Schaffer. "We had a very deep recruiting class and it will be good to see how we can compete right off the bat. Iegor Lytvenok is arguably the most versatile swimmer on the team and is very fast. Illya Glazunov will challenge Michael Branning for the top sprinter spot in the 50 and 100 free, so those will be interesting races. Stanislav Sakiko has been very impressive in the mid-distance free and he and John Feely will make for a good 1-2 punch in those events. Everton Kida is looking very good in the backstrokes, and Ivan Nechunaev should do well in the fly events."
Branning returns for his senior season after earning the title of the 'Fastest Swimmer' by winning the 50 free at the NCAA D-II Championships in a time of 19.81. Nechunaev is back after being named the RMAC Academic Men's Swimmer of the Year, as well as being named to the Capital One Academic All-America Division II Men's Team and the recipient of the prestigious Elite 89 award for the 2013 NCAA Division II Men's Swimming Championship.
The women's team will be bolstered by a pair of incoming recruits that could make an immediate splash and a host of seasoned veterans.
"Our two new recruits Hannah Kastigar and Jovanna Koens are legitimate D-I level swimmers and should race very well in their event this weekend," added Schaffer. "I am interested to see how they race against some very strong competition. Rebecca Coan and Hannah Peseau have been looking very good in practice and should compete well in their fly and back events. Kathleen Robertson has been very good early on in the breaststroke and should race well. Catherine Polito and Samantha Magnani will have some very tough races in the sprint and mid-distance free events, but both have been looking good in practice, so I think the competition will bring out some good performances for them. Inha Kotsur and Faith Heinz should do well in the distance free events – they have looked good starting off the season."
Looking ahead to this opening weekend, Schaffer shared additional thoughts on facing Bakersfield and Seattle U, two other Western Athletic Conference programs.
On the men's meet: "It should be a very exciting meet. The teams are very evenly matched. Bakersfield has divers and so we will essentially start the meet behind by about 26 points. We will have to win most of the swimming events to be able to make up that differential. If our guys step up and swim really well, we have a shot. Against Seattle we are a bit more evenly matched. They do not have divers either, so we will start out even. Last year, when they swam this meet against Bakersfield, they had a very good meet. The meet could come down to the last relay like it did for us against ASU last year. If it does, like the ASU meet, we should be able to win the last event."
On the women's meet: "On paper, Bakersfield looks to be a bit too strong for us, especially with diving. I know we will compete well and we will win our share of events, but they are a very good team. Seattle should be a closer meet for us and one we have a chance to win. I am counting on our women to start the season with some strong performances so we can try to come away with a split this weekend."
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