Lopes breaking records and making history in Evanston

Saturday, November 18

Evanston, Ill.

TBD

Grand Canyon

Northwestern TYR Invitational Day 2

Photo by: Deb Schaffer

11/19/2017 2:58:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

Lopes continue to make history on day two of the Northwestern TYR Invitational

By: Nathan Okonek

EVANSTON--The Grand Canyon men's and women's swimming and diving team displayed another record-breaking day on day two of the Northwestern TYR Invitational in Evanston, Ill. and Lumberjack Diving Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The men's swim team remains in third place with a score of 474, trailing Michigan State (577.5) and host Northwestern (579.5) for the top two spots. While the women, for the second consecutive day, sit in fourth place with a score of 352, with Northwestern leading the way at 771.2, followed by Michigan State (515) and Ohio (378).

After Mark Nikolaev's history making performance, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, the men's 200-yard medley relay team of Mazen El Kasmash, Youssef El Kamash, Mark Nikolaev and Daniil Antipov, continued to add to the Lopes' record book with a new pool record with a time of 1:24.46 and punching their ticket to the NCAA Championships. The men's 800-yard freestyle relay team of Wiktor Jaszczak, Mazen El Kasmash, Nikolaev and Antipov also blew away the competition, winning the event with a time of 6:32.66.

The Lopes continued to shatter pool records at the The Dellora A. and Lester J. Norris Aquatics Center at Northwestern with Antipov posting a time of 46.39 in the 100-yard butterfly, breaking his previous record of 46.79. Youssef El Kamash was another Lope adding his name to the pool record book with a time of 52.76 in the 100-yard breaststroke, breaking the previous pool record of 52.92 held by Olympian Mihail Alexandrov. Nikolaev also broke his previous pool record in the 100-yard backstroke with a new time of 45.22, making the NCAA Automatic Standard for the second time this weekend.

Pietro Hufnagel Toscani and Nick Benson both placed in the men's platform dive on Saturday, with Toscani finishing in sixth (276.90) and Benson finishing in seventh (202.75).

The women's 200-yard medley relay team of Iryna Glavnyk, Vangelina Draganova, Diana Jaruseviciute and Samiha Mohsen finished on top with a time of 1:42.20. A handful of Lopes also found themselves earning points for their team in the 100-yard backstroke. Glavnyk finished fourth with a time of 55.10, closely followed by Estela Davis Ortiz in fifth (55.90) and Mohsen in seventh 56.04.

The Lopes head into Sunday of the Northwestern TYR Invitational and Lumberjack Diving Invitational with high hopes of finishing strong. The events will start at 9:00 a.m. CT (8:00 a.m MT) with the finals on Sunday starting at 3:00 p.m. CT (2:00 p.m MT).