Men’s Swimming and Diving Cruises Past North Dakota; Women Split Duals

Friday, January 9

Goodyear, AZ

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

170

North Dakota

Iegor Lytvenok

Photo by: Deb Schaffer

Men’s Swimming and Diving Cruises Past North Dakota; Women Split Duals

1/9/2015 5:49:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

GCU to host North Dakota Saturday at 1 p.m. in Goodyear

The Grand Canyon University men's and women's swimming and diving teams hosted the University of North Dakota and the Northern Colorado women on a sunshine filled Friday afternoon at the Southwest Valley Family YMCA in Goodyear. Both UND and UNC are affiliate swimming members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

The Antelope men cruised to a 170-72 victory over visiting UND, while the GCU women downed Northern Colorado (137-104), but were edged by North Dakota by a single point (120.50-119.50).

"It was a very strong showing by our men's team," said head coach Steve Schaffer. "Despite a very tough training phase this week, our guys really stepped up and raced extremely well. Our women swam well. It a good win over Northern Colorado, but losing by a point to North Dakota stung a bit. North Dakota has a very strong diving program and out-scored us 32-4 in the diving events. We battled hard to make up the difference, but just didn't quite make it. It was a very good effort though."

"Most importantly, both the men and the women showed some nice technical improvements in how they are executing off of their starts and turns which is something we have been focusing on," added Schaffer. "Executing those skills better is something that will help us succeed at the WAC Championships."

Hannah Kastigar added to her already impressive season resume, capturing a top finish in the 400-IM (4:26.32) and 500-free (5:00.71). Yara Fakhry came in second in the 400-IM (4:38.10), while Joana Ulyte was third in the 500-free (5:10.73).

Jovanna Koens won the 50-free after touching the wall in 24.04 seconds and also garnered the fastest time (52.63 seconds) in the 100-free. Celine Schoemans was third in the 100-free with her time of 54.46 seconds.

Iryna Glavnyk won the 100-back after finishing with a time of 57.00 seconds and came in third in the 1650-free with a time of 18:00.42.

Vangelina Draganova was second in the 100-breast (1:06.07), while Daria Talanova finished third (1:06.18) and Kathleen Robertson took fourth with a time of 1:06.91. Rebecca Coan came in second in the 100-fly after clocking a time of 58.71 seconds.

On their way to taking home first in the 200-medley relay, Glavnyk, Draganova, Coan and Koens collected a time of 1:46.79.

In the diving portion of the meet, reigning WAC Diver of the Week Michael Bidak continued to build on his strong rookie season, taking first in the 3-meter dive (262.40) and second in the 1-meter dive (241.90). Michael Winfrey was third in the 1-meter dive (236.70) and fourth in the 3-meter (244.10). Rachel Adams took seventh in both the 3-meter (165.70) and 1-meter (183.85).

"Today was a little more challenging due to the fact that we are in the middle of a tough training cycle, but the divers did show up and scored points for the team," said head diving coach Tracey Eldridge. "Mikey Winfrey had another season-best score and I am looking forward to tomorrow's competition to see even more improvement."

Grand Canyon took the 1-4 spots in the 200-free, as Iegor Lytvenok led the Canyon charge with a time of 1:37.66. Stanislav Saiko (1:41.05) was second, Neil Fogel (1:42.26) third, and Trent Godfrey (1:45.13) fourth. The Lopes took the top four spots in the 50-free as well, as Illya Glazunov picked up first (20.79 seconds), Alexandr Dmitriyenko (21.46 seconds) second, Mazen Elkamash (21.48 seconds) third, and Tom Wahlers (21.79 seconds) fourth.

Glazunov swam to his second first-place finish of the day in the 100-free (45.24 seconds), while Mazen Elkamash (47.26 seconds) was third and Tanner Brotherton (47.47 seconds) fourth. Lytvenok posted his second top finish of the day in the 100-back, clocking a winning time of 52.11 seconds. Trent Trump (53.58 seconds) was third and Jacob Lambros (54.00) finished fourth.

Fedir Bolychev has proved to be a great semester addition to the men's team, as the freshman secured first in the 100-fly after recording a time of 50.21 seconds. Dmitriyenko finished second with a time of 51.23 seconds. Nathon Burwick raced to a first-place finish in the 400-IM, finishing in 4:08.00. Adam Kastigar was third in the same event with a time of 4:18.47.

GCU took the top three spots in the 500-free, as Saiko was the first Canyon swimmer to touch the wall (4:38.57), while Neil Fogel was just behind him in second (4:40.8) and John Feely in third (4:44.44). David Gauvin collected a third-place finish in the 1650-free (17:53.04).

Mantas Auruskevicius notched a top finish in the 100-breast, finishing with a time of 57.34 seconds. Youssef Elkamash (58.27) was the second-place finisher with a time of 58.27 seconds and Aslan Burbayev came in fourth in the race with his time of 1:00.27.

Feely, Youssef Elkamash, Bolychev and Glazunov combined to take first in the 200-medley relay (1:33.05). The quartet of Lytvenok, Brotherton, Mazen Elkamash and Lambros were the top relay team in the 400-free relay, totaling a time of 3:06.82.

The Lopes will host North Dakota in their home finale on Saturday at the Southwest Valley Family YMCA in Goodyear. Fans that are unable to make it out can follow the action via a link for live results at www.gculopes.com.

Friday's complete results can be seen here.