NCAA Championships: Preview

Wednesday, March 21

Minneapolis, Minn.

TBD

Grand Canyon

NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships

Photo by: Deb Schaffer

3/21/2018 8:20:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving

Live Video/Stats Parking Tickets

By: Nathan Okonek

MINNEAPOLIS - The Grand Canyon men's swimming team will travel to the Land of 10,000 Lakes at the University of Minnesota From March 21-24 to compete in the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships for the first time in program history.

Daniil Antipov, Mazen El Kamash, Youssef El Kamash, Mark Nikolaev and Bogdan Plavin will be representing GCU in the team relays while Eran Ber and Asahi Nagahata will serve as relay alternates for the Lopes. Antipov, Youssef El Kamash and Nikolaev will compete individually for GCU.

Antipov will be competing in the 100 and 200 yard butterfly event. Antipov currently sits at No. 39 in the 100 with a time of 46.08 and No. 25 in the 200 with a time of 1:42.60.

Youssef El Kamash will enter into the 100 and 200 yard breaststroke event. El Kamash's time of 52.76 in the 100 comes in at No. 27 while his time of 1:56.45 in the 200 puts him at No. 40.

Nikolaev will compete in the 100 and 200 yard backstroke. His Division I "A Cut" time of 44.71 in the 100 puts him at No. 2 in the nation while he sits at No. 19 in the 200 with a time of 1:40.81.

All the student-athletes 100 yard individual events will take place on March 23 with the 200 yard individual events taking place on March 24. The preliminary rounds for each event will begin at 8:00 am. MST with the finals beginning at 4:00 p.m. MST

Antipov, Youssef El Kamash, Nikolaev and Plavin will compete in the 200 yard medley relay and Antipov, Mazen El Kamash, Youssef El Kamash and Nikolaev will compete in the 400 yard medley relay.

According to the Official NCAA Psych Sheet, GCU sits at No. 11 in the nation in the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:24.33 and No. 17 in the 400 yard medley relay with an "A Cut" time of 3:07.48.

Antipov, Mazen El Kamash, Nikolaev and Plavin will be representing the Lopes in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a No. 26 ranked time of 1:18.26.

The 200 free relay and 400 medley relay will take place on March 22 with the preliminary rounds for both events beginning at 8:00 a.m. MST with the finals beginning at 4:00 p.m. MST.

The 200 medley relay will be on March 23 with the preliminary round starting at 8:00 a.m. MST with the final beginning at 4:00 p.m. MST.

All events will be held at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center off of University Ave SE and Walnut St SE, across the street from Williams Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

For all information regarding the 2018 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, click here.

For more information on GCU Swimming and Diving, follow us on Twitter at @GCU_Swimming and on Instagram at @GCU_Swimndive.