Lopes post strong final day in Iowa

Saturday, November 17

Iowa City, Iowa

TBD

Grand Canyon

Hawkeye Invitational

Photo by: Deb Schaffer

11/17/2018 9:26:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

Day 3 Prelim Results Day 3 Final Results

GCU men finish 4th at Hawkeye Inviational; women take 6th

By: Nathan Okonek

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The Grand Canyon men's and women's swimming and diving teams finished in fourth place and sixth place, respectively, in the three-day Hawkeye Invitational at Iowa.

"This was a great meet for us and we can finally stamp the file on this one with 'Mission accomplished,' " Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer said. "We wanted to pick up as many postseason qualifying times as possible and this meet was a great way for our coaching staff to evaluate how our new training program was working."

Brigit Van Der Vegte started things off for the Lopes, finishing 11th overall in the women's 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2 minutes, 1.72 seconds.

GCU senior Mark Nikolaev won the 200 backstroke in 1:40.81 while teammate Cameron Carney finished eighth with a time of 1:49.12. Nikolaev's time set a Hawkeye Invitational record, beating a 2014 mark of 1:42.19 set by Grant Betulius from Iowa . Nikolaev's time also ranks third in the country for this season.

"I can't say enough good things about Mark, "Schaffer said. "His performance at the Hawkeye Invitational was phenomenal. Whether it was a relay or individual event, he continued to show up. I am excited to see what he will do at WAC Championships and NCAA's."

Dylan Nasser also finished 13th in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:50.15.

Roaia Mashaly qualified for the final in the 100 freestyle, finishing seventh with a time of 51.04. Emily Muteti (51.13) and Diana Jaruseviciute (51.16) were the top two finishers in the 100 freestyle consolation final for ninth and 10th places overall, respectively.

In the men's 100 freestyle, Mazen Shoukri took second in 43.40 with Bogdan Plavin (44.25) and Florent Janin (45.18) in sixth and eighth, respectively. Samuel McKenzie (44.32) won the consolation final to be ninth overall.

"Mazen and Bogdan both picked up NCAA B cuts in their events," Schaffer said. "I am beyond impressed how they both handled themselves this weekend, especially for Mazen as this was his first taste on the big stage."

Marina McInelly won the women's 200 breaststroke consolation final in 2:18.27.

Asahi Nagahata finished fourth in the men's 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:01.42.

Alonso Carazo Barbero took third in the consolation final with a time of 2:03.11

Daniill Antipov set a Hawkeye Invitational record in the men's 200 butterfly, as he won the event in 1:42.35, breaking the previous record of 1:43.61 set by Dylan Bosch of Michigan in 2012.

"Daniil swam a 200 butterfly NCAA B Cut that was faster than last year's invited time," Schaffer said. "That time will likely hold up for an invitation to the 2019 NCAA Championships."

Uriel Tejeda finished seventh in the consolation final with a time of 1:54.05.

Kyra Forrest, Jaruseviciute, Muteti and Mashaly finished seventh in the women's 400 freestyle relay (3:26.89), earning 24 points for the Lopes. Robyn Edwards, Karolina Dyrda, Salma Zaitoun and Kenya McCray finished in 10th (3:30.94), earning 14 points.

The men finished the event strongly in the 400 freestyle relay, as Nikolaev, Shoukri, Janin and Antipov won the event with an NCAA Provisional time of 2:52.66, beating the previous meet record of 2:53.78 set by Michigan in 2012.

Carney, McKenzie, Nagahata and Plavin finished fourth in the relay, earning 30 points with a time of 2:58.89.

"Our women and men picked up all of the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America National Invitational relay A cuts," Schaffer said, "which means that we will be sending full squads to the NIT meet. We have a good read on what worked well for us and what needs to be tweaked moving forward. We are very excited for getting back to work to have an even better championship segment.

While the men's relays did not qualify for the NCAA Championships, the coaching staff remains positive with what they saw, in order to prepare for WAC Championships in February.

"We picked up provisional NCAA relay cuts in two of the relay events," Schaffer said. "We think we should be able to add an NCAA A relay cut and more individual qualifiers at the WAC Championships based on the result we saw this weekend."

In the men's platform dive, Pietro Hufnagel Toscani finished seventh in the final with 292.65 points. Nick Benson finished eighth with a total of 250.80 points.

In the women's platform dive preliminary rounds, Menna El-Midany finished 10th overall with 178.45 points. Tasmin Stewart followed in 11th with 172.50 points and Nicole Yeakley was 13th with 149.35 points.

"I am immensely proud of our student-athletes and staff for the great results we had this weekend," Schaffer said. "Both the men's and women's teams showed what they are capable of doing and I am excited to keep the process going with our student-athletes."

The GCU men's and women's swimming and diving teams are done for 2018, but will return to action in January, when they head to Riverside, Calif., to take on California Baptist and Wyoming.

For those whose times qualify, GCU swimmers have an opportunity to compete in the 2018 Winter National Championships from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 in Greensboro, N.C.

Men
1. Purdue - 875.5
2. Minnesota - 813
3. Iowa - 797.5
4. Grand Canyon - 754
5. Missouri State - 356
6. South Dakota - 158
7. South Dakota State - 92
8. Wisconsin - 58 (Diving only)
9. Michigan State- 9 (Diving only)

Women
1. Minnesota - 1136
2. Nebraska - 931
3. Iowa - 632.5
4. Southern Methodist - 414.5
5. Missouri State - 332
6. Grand Canyon - 307
7. South Dakota - 132
8. Michigan State - 29 (Diving only)
9. Wisconsin - 25 (Diving only)
10. Iowa State - 24 (Diving only)
11. Kansas - 9 (Diving only)
12. Omaha - 6 (Diving only)

For more on GCU swimming and diving, follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @GCU_Swimming.