GCU Swimming Posts Strong Finishes in Home Opener

Friday, October 23

Phoenix, Ariz.

1:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Seattle U (Swimmers)

Photo by: Darryl Webb

10/23/2015 7:22:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon University men's and women's swimming teams earned strong victories over Seattle U and Loyola Marymount today out at Southwest Valley Family YMCA. The men defeated Seattle U 136-68. The women won their meet over Seattle U 120-84 and over Loyola Marymount 123-79.

"This was a very good meet for both the men and the women," said head coach Steve Schaffer. "The women's team really stepped up to raced well today. On paper, this meet much was closer than the end result showed and that's because our girls raced very, very well."

The team opened the meet with a first place finish in the 400-medley relay with a time of 3:51.69. It consisted of Iryna Glavnyk, Vangelina Draganova, Rebecca Coan, and Samiha Mohsen.

In both the 50-free and 100-free, Jovanna Koens took the top times of 23.96 and 53.21, respectively. Mohsen was the runner-up in the 50-free (24.03). She also earned the top slot in the 100-back (58.70).

Rebecca Coan had a time of 57.38 to lead in the 100-butterfly. Glavnyk picked up two top-finishes in the 200-free (1:55.10) and 500-free (5:15.71). Yara Fakhry finished second in the 400-IM (4:26.90), while Kathleen Robertson recorded a second place finish in the 100-back with a time of 1:06.15.

GCU closed out the meet with a runner-up finish in the 200-free relay (3:35.02) by Angelina Mikish, Rebecca Coan, Petya Dimova, and Jovanna Koens.

"The men knew they had the meet well in hand, but they kept their heads in the meet and focused on racing skills and put up some very good times for this point in the season," said Schaffer. "With the meet with a very good Air Force team coming up in two weeks they need to keep stepping up their racing."

GCU started the meet by taking the top-two times in the 400-medley relay. With a time of 3:25.11, Trent Trump, Youssef Elkamash, Illya Glazunov, and Mazen Elkamash finished first. Jacob Lambros, Mantas Auruskevicius, Tanner Brotherton, and Mark Nikolaev had a time of 3:27.30 as the runners-up.

Trump and Nikolaev finished first and second, respectively, in the 200-free with time of 1:45.68 and 1:46.32.

The Lopes took the top-four times in the 50-free. Glaznuov placed first with a time of 20.59 and Mazen Elkamash finished second at 21.02. Lambros and Daniil Antipov took third and fourth, respectively.

Iegor Lytvenok earned another pair of first place finishes. The first was in the 400-IM (3:55.55) and the second in the 100-back (49.68). In the 400-IM, Antipov and Trent Godfrey each placed second (3:58.03) and third (4:13.72), respectively. Nikolaev also placed second in the 100-back (49.84).

Brotherton took first place in the 100-free with a time of 47.11, followed closely by Youssef Elkamash at 27.86. Youssef Elkamash took the top time in the 100-breast (56.40), while Godfrey had a time of 4:47.73 in the 500-free, also placing first.

Rounding out the final scores was the 400-free relay, which Grand Canyon took the top-two slots in. Iegor Lytvenok, Connor Shores , Tanner Brotherton, and Jacob Lambros had a time of 3:05.61 for first. Mazen Elkamash, Owen Cameron, Trent Godfrey, and Illya Glazunov were close behind at 3:06.16.

"I was actually a bit surprised at how many times were season bests and well ahead of where we were at this time last year," concluded Schaffer. "Everyone is adapting well to the training and it should give everyone a lot of confidence as we prepare for our big mid-season meets at the Northwestern TYR Invitational and US Winter Nationals."

The GCU swimming teams will continue the competition tomorrow in Goodyear, with both teams facing Seattle U for the second time and the women squaring off with Loyola Marymount. The meet will begin at 11 a.m. Links to live stats as well as a full recap will be available at www.gculopes.com.