GCU men and women finish third at WAC Championships

Saturday, February 27

Houston, Texas

All Day

Grand Canyon

WAC Championships Day 4

2/28/2016 10:36:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon men's and women's swimming and diving teams wrapped up the 2016 WAC Swimming and Diving Championships with two third place finishes at the CRWC Natatorium in Houston, Texas on Saturday.

"We placed third in the WAC, an improvement over our fourth place finish last year. On the men's side that was third to Air Force and Wyoming, and we beat UNLV – not regular WAC teams and all are three are perennial NCAA Championship participants. The women were third behind NAU, also not a regular WAC team and New Mexico State, and we did it while redshirting last year's WAC Women's Swimmer of the Year. We have made excellent progress. Them men won five individual events and 4-of-5 relays and the women also won five individual events."

After the meet, freshman Daniil Antipov was selected as the WAC Co-Freshman of the year along with Wyoming's Jack Herron. Antipov was instrumental in the Lopes' success this week as he won the 200 butterfly with a conference record time of 1:42.87, was a part of two winning relays in the 200 and 400 medleys, and also finished second in the 100 butterfly and sixth overall in the 200 individual medley.

"Daniil Antipov's honor of WAC Freshman of the Year was well earned," Shaffer added. "His 200 Fly was a superb swim. I would be remiss if I did not also mention our other outstanding freshman, Mark Nikolaev, who was actually the high-point swimmer of the meet for men, accumulating 57 points with two firsts and a second. Together, Mark and Daniil will help likely be among GCU's first NCAA Championship point scorers in future years."

Nikolaev and teammates Iegor Lytvenok started off the scoring for the Lopes on the final day with a 1-2 finish in the 200 backstroke, both achieving D1 "B" Standards. Mazen El Kamash followed that up with an event win in the 100 freestyle. His mark of 43.12 was a new GCU school record. Jacob Lambros and Illya Glazunov joined El Kamash with third and fifth place finishes in the final.

The men's 400 freestyle relay closed out the meet with a dominant performance to set a GCU school record and hit a D1 "A" Standard with their 2:52.57 effort. They finished almost four seconds ahead of second-place Air Force.

On the women's side, the Lopes regrouped and fought their way back from a seventh place standing after Day 2 to finish third overall two days later.

"It was a great team effort with 16 different women soring for us. The charge over the last two days was led by Iryna Glavnyk, Jovanna Koens, and Estela Davis Ortiz. Between them, they won five individual events and each of them earned at least one NCAA B-cut. Sophomores Jade Howard, Celine Schoemans and Joana Ulyte made great progress towards DI B-Cuts this year, as well as freshman Samiha Mohsen. We are getting better each year."

Much like the men did to start the day, the women's charge up the team standings started with Glavnyk and Davis Ortiz finishing 1-2 in the 200 backstroke. The pair of Lopes were over four seconds faster than third place. Joana Ulyte added a fifth place in the event to add to the scoring charge.

Following her school record in the 50 freestyle on Thursday night, Koens broke the school record in the 100 freestyle as well with a time of 50.05. It was a particularly impressive season for Keons considering she broke her arm in the last dual meet of the 2014-15 season and had to miss last year's WAC Chamiponships. Koens spent all summer rehabbing and working to get back into form and made her mark on this year's conference championship.

In the final event of the championships, the 400 freestyle team of Davis Ortiz, Glavnyk, Howard and Koens raced to a second place finish behind CSU Bakersfield to clinch third place in the team standings. The Lopes finished with 466.5 points, only 21.5 points out of second place while also holding off Bakersfield by 3.5 points in the final standings.

"We could not have held off Bakersfield tonight without freshman Menna Elmidany's fifth place finish in platform diving tonight," Schaffer said. "She just missed a zone qualifying score and I think she will be a lock for the postseason when we are eligible in 2018."

"We honored 13 graduating seniors at the meet tonight, and 11 of them came to us a DII recruits, expecting to have a shot at DII NCAAs," Shaffer concluded. "Although they didn't sign on for DI swimming, they chose to stay to help us build for our DI future. We are grateful to them for their efforts, and it says a lot about many of them that they were able to be WAC Championship scorers for us. Our future is bright and it has been built on their shoulders."

TEAM SCORES – Final
WOMEN		MEN
Northern Arizona	807.5	Air Force	771
NM State	448	Wyoming	690
Grand Canyon	466.5	Grand Canyon	650
CSU Bakersfield	463	UNLV	578
Idaho	441.5	North Dakota	344
North Dakota	373.5	CSU Bakersfield	309
Northern Colorado	307.5	Seattle U	183
Seattle U	244.5

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 \| 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 \| Heat Sheets \| Watch Live