Ortiz, Nikolaev shine on Day 3 of WAC Championships

Friday, February 26

Houston, Texas

All Day

Grand Canyon

WAC Championships Day 3

2/27/2016 5:26:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

By: Charles Hampton

Estela Davis Ortiz won two individual events and the Lopes men's and women's swimming and diving team's collected a total of four event wins as Day 3 of the WAC Swimming and Diving Championships wrapped up in Houston, Texas on Friday.

With only one day remaining in competition, the GCU men's team fell back one spot to third place in the team standings with 466 points, trailing Air Force (554) and Wyoming (487). Air Force distanced themselves from the field despite only one event win on the evening. On the women's side, the Lopes moved up to fifth place with 306 points. Northern Arizona leads the women's team competition with 546.5 points with 13 events remaining in the championships.

Mark Nikolaev continued his torrid freshman campaign, collecting a conference title in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 46.30, breaking his own school record of 46.33 set earlier this season at the Shamrock Invitational in January. Nikolaev's mark was a conference and WAC championships record, not to mention was a D1 "B" standard mark.

Grand Canyon had a clean sweep of the 100 backstroke when Ortiz followed up Nikolaev's win with one of her own in the event, as she and teammate Iryna Glavnyk went 1-2 overall on the women's side. Ortiz took the lead from the start and edged out Glavnyk 54.16 to 54.41, both D1 "B" Standards. The pair each finished over a second ahead of the rest of the field.

Ortiz's win was her second of the day, following a dominating win in the 400 yard medley. Her mark of 4:16.14 was nearly four seconds ahead of second place and was another D1 "B" Standard for Ortiz. Sophomore Yara Fakhry won the consolation round of the event, to help add 29 points to the team total for the Lopes.

Not to be outdone, Nikolaev wrapped up the day of competition with his second event win of the evening, combining with Youssef El Kamash, Daniil Antipov and Mazen El Kamash, to shatter the school record in the 400 medley relay by over three seconds. The Lopes' mark of 3:08.80 broke the conference and WAC Championships record, previously held by UNLV from the 2014 WAC Championship meet. It was the third relay victory for the Grand Canyon men of the meet.

Other notable performances from Friday evening's action came from Iegor Lytvenok, who added a fourth place finish in the 400 medley to kick off the evening session of the meet. Lytvenok hit a D1 "B" Standard while teammate Trent Godfrey added an 11^th place finish in the event for the Lopes. Antipov had a runner-up finish in the 100 butterfly while Youseff El Kamash finished third overall in the 100 breaststroke. Michael Bidak followed up on his third place finish on Thursday in the 1-meter springboard with a fourth place finish in the platform on Friday.

The women's 400 medley relay team of Glavnyk, Vangelina Draganova, Rebecca Coan and Jovanna Koens closed out the evening with second-place finish with a time of 3:43.10.

The final day of the WAC Championships will kickoff with preliminary rounds of the 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast and 200 fly on Saturday at 10:30 am CT, with the event finals coming in the evening session along with the 1650 free, women's platform dive and 400 free relays to conclude competition.

TEAM SCORES – Through Day Three
WOMEN		MEN
Northern Arizona	546.5	Air Force	554
NM State	337	Wyoming	487
CSU Bakersfield	324	Grand Canyon	466
Idaho	308	UNLV	422
Grand Canyon	306	North Dakota	268
North Dakota	236.5	CSU Bakersfield	236
Northern Colorado	199.5	Seattle U	127
Seattle U	176.5

WEDNESDAY	02.24.16 \| Recap \| Photos
10:30 a.m.	Diving Prelims
6 p.m.	Swimming & Diving Finals \| Watch Live
THURSDAY	02.25.16 \| Recap \| Photos
10:30 a.m.	Swimming Prelims \| Heat Sheets
12:30 p.m.	Diving Prelims
6 p.m.	Swimming & Diving Finals \| Heat Sheets \| Watch Live
FRIDAY	02.26.16 \| Recap \| Photos
10:30 a.m.	Swimming Prelims \| Heat Sheets
12:45 p.m.	Diving Prelims
6 p.m.	Swimming & Diving Finals \| Heat Sheets \| Watch Live
SATURDAY	02.27.16 \| Live Results: Swimming • Diving \| Recap \| Photos
10:30 a.m.	Swimming Prelims \| Heat Sheets
12:15 p.m.	Diving Prelims
3:00 p.m.	1650 Freestyle (1st 4 heats) \| Heat Sheets
6 p.m.	Swimming & Diving Finals \| Watch Live