Women’s Swimming and Diving Defeats Air Force

Saturday, November 8

Colorado Springs, CO

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

155

143

Air Force/Denver

Hannah Kastigar won three events Saturday at Air Force.

Photo by: Deb Schaffer

11/8/2014 5:45:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

Men drop first dual since January of 2011 Saturday at Air Force

The Grand Canyon University women's swimming and diving team took down Air Force Academy, 155-143, today in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Canyon men fell to the host Falcons by a score of 161.50-131.50—it was the first dual meet loss for the GCU men since January of 2011. The Antelope women also competed against Denver, but came up short against the Pioneers, falling 186-108.

The Air Force women compete within the Mountain West Conference, while the men are an affiliate swimming member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Denver is a member of The Summit League.

"We knew that this meet was going to be a challenge for us," said head swimming coach Steve Schaffer. "It is tough to compete at 7000 feet when you don't train at that altitude and I am very proud of the way our kids competed throughout the meet. We had quite a few season-best times despite the attitude and that tell us that our training is going very well."

"I am very proud of how our women rose to the occasion to race against two very good teams," said Schaffer "Beating Air Force is a huge win for us and we showed that we can race with and win events against a very strong team like Denver as well. Our women continue to exceed expectations this season and we are laying a solid foundation to challenge the teams at the top of the WAC."

Hannah Kastigar continued her early season dominance, as the sophomore turned in three first-place finishes Saturday. Kastigar took first in the 200-fly (2:04.17), 200-IM (2:05.39), and 100-fly (57.06 seconds).

Jovanna Koens collected the fastest time in the 50-free, finishing in 23.74 seconds and took second in the 100-free (52.19 seconds). Iryna Glavnyk swam to a pair of second-place finishes, coming in second in both the 100-breaststroke (56.68 seconds) and 200-backstroke (2:03.62).

Daria Talanova picked up a top finish in the 200-breaststroke (2:20.92) and a second in the 100-breastroke (1:05.22). Vangelina Draganova finished third in the 100-breastroke, clocking a time of 1:06.76. Talanova's time in the 200-breaststroke is a new school record.

"We knew coming into this meet that Air Force was a very good team and very tough to beat especially with their home court advantage at 7000 ft. Our guys had not lost a dual meet since January 2011, winning 20 straight up until today," said Schaffer.

In the men's diving competition, Michael Bidak took second in the 1-meter dive (269.45 points) and third in the 3-meter dive (356.30 points).

Iegor Lytvenok finished first in the 200-backstroke (1:49.14) and 200-IM (1:55.88), while taking second in the 100-backstroke (49.41 seconds). John Feely was third in the 100-backstroke, recording a time of 51.74 seconds.

Illya Glazunov notched two top finishes, finishing first in the 50-free (20.39 seconds) and 100-free (45.13 seconds). Mantas Auruskevicius won the 200-breaststroke, finishing in a WAC-best time of 2:04.93.

GCU took the top three spots in the 100-fly, as Stanislav Saiko led the Canyon charge, coming in first (50.27 seconds), while Alexandr Dmitriyenko (50.77 seconds) and Tanner Brotherton (52.64 seconds) finished second and third, respectively. Saiko also won the 200-fly, posting a time of 1:53.80.

Nathon Burwick (2:01.46) and Trent Godfrey (2:07.55) came in second and third in the 200-IM, respectively. Neil Fogel (5:05.67) and David Gauvin (5:22.57) also finished second and third, respectively, in the 500-free.

The Lopes will be back in the pool Nov. 20-22 when they travel to Texas A&M for the Art Adamson Invitational. Fans can visit www.gculopes.com to find more information on the swimming and diving teams.

"Our guys had a tough challenge, and they fought for the entire meet," added Schaffer. "They showed a lot of character today and we will take what we learned from today and keep building for the WAC ChampionshipsWe got a good look at what it will take to move into the top three teams in the conference and we will work toward that goal and we are ready to start a new win streak when we resume dual meets in January."

Click here to view today's results.