Koens and Lytvenok victorious on Day 2 of WAC Championships

Thursday, February 25

Houston, Texas

All Day

Grand Canyon

WAC Championships Day 2

Koens and Lytvenok victorious on Day 2 of WAC Championships

2/26/2016 1:25:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon men's swimming and diving team remains locked in a battle with Air Force after Day 2 of the 2016 WAC Swimming and Diving Championships in Houston, Texas. The Lopes trail the Falcons by six points entering Day 3 of the championships on Friday. The Grand Canyon women sit in sixth place with two days remaining in competition.

Iegor Lytvenok and Mark Nikolaev raced to a 1-2 finish in the finals of the 200 yard IM to put the Lopes on the board after the pair had the two fastest times in the morning's prelim rounds. Lytvenok's time of 1:44.91 Daniil Antipov finished sixth overall as all three Lopes achieved D1 "B" Standards.

In the women's 200 IM, Iryna Glavnyk improved on her third seed to finish second overall with a mark of 2:01.76, a tenth of a second behind the winner.

The next event in the pool was the 50 free, where Mazen El Kamash and Jacob Lambros qualified for the final while Jovanna Koens and Samiha Mohsen had the two fastest qualifying times earlier in the day.

El Kamash had the second fastest qualifying time entering the final, trailing only Dillon Virva of UNLV who recorded a D1 "A" Standards of 19.09 in the preliminary round, the seventh fastest time in the country this season. El Kamash was unable to catch Virva in the final either, finishing as runner-up in a season-best time of 19.71. Lambros would finish seventh overall with a time of 20.08.

Koens was the big winner for the women on the day as she raced to D1 "B" Standard and career-best time of 22.92 to dominate the final of the 50 free. Koens' mark smashed her previous school record of 23.14 set this year at the Shamrock Invitational.

The meet moved from pool to the diving board as the men competed in the 1-meter diving finals while the women faced off in the 3-meter finals. Senior Michael Bidak achieved the D1 "A" Standard with a six-dive score of 312.85, good for third place overall. Freshman Cody Rankin also qualified for the final and finished eighth overall with a score of 259.95. The women failed to advance a diver out of the preliminary rounds on Thursday morning.

The 200 yard freestyle relay was the final event of the day. The Lopes team of El Kamash, Illya Glazunov, Lytvenok and Lambros were unable to beat out UNLV, falling by just .09 seconds, but still finishing second overall. The time was just .01 off the school record set in Feb. 2014.

Action continues Friday at the CRWC Natatorium in Houston with the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, men's platform diving and the 400 medley relays. Prelims begin at 10:30 a.m. and the finals start at 6:00 p.m.

WAC TEAM SCORES – Through Day 2
WOMEN		MEN
Northern Arizona	379.5	Air Force	282
NM State	196	Grand Canyon	276
CSU Bakersfield	189	Wyoming	250
Idaho	175	UNLV	223
Northern Colorado	149	North Dakota	161
North Dakota	138	CSU Bakersfield	151
Grand Canyon	126	Seattle U	74
Seattle U	108.5

THURSDAY	02.25.16 \| Results \| Recap \| Photos
10:30 a.m.	Swimming Prelims \| Heat Sheets \| Results
12:30 p.m.	Diving Prelims
6 p.m.	Swimming & Diving Finals \| Heat Sheets \| Watch Live
FRIDAY	02.26.16 \| Live Results: Swimming • Diving \| Recap \| Photos
10:30 a.m.	Swimming Prelims \| Heat Sheets
12:45 p.m.	Diving Prelims
6 p.m.	Swimming & Diving Finals \| Watch Live
SATURDAY	02.27.16 \| Live Results: Swimming • Diving \| Recap \| Photos
10:30 a.m.	Swimming Prelims
12:15 p.m.	Diving Prelims
6 p.m.	Swimming & Diving Finals \| Watch Live