Completed Event: Men's Swimming and Diving versus Air Force on November 8, 2024 , Loss , 186, to, 167
M Swimming
vs Air Force
L 186-167
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Photo by: Deb Schaffer
Relays qualify for NCAAs on Day 2
2/28/2019 8:06:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving
WAC Championships InformationDiving Live StatsLive StatsPrelim Live VideoFinals Live Video2019 WAC Championships Psych Sheet2019 WAC Championships Schedule
10 Lopes advance to A-Final on 2nd day in Houston
HOUSTON -- The Grand Canyon men's swimming and diving team kept its WAC Championships lead after two days while the Lopes women's team sits in seventh place.
The men lead with 284 points, 29 ahead of second-place Wyoming, after winning one relay and two individual events on Thursday.
"It was another exciting day for us," Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer said. "The men went into Thursday's finals knowing that Wyoming had five more scoring opportunities than we did and our guys stepped up and raced very well to hold on to the lead by the end of the day. While our best swimmers won their share of gold today, it was our depth in our next tier of guys that kept us in the lead today."
However, the highlight of Thursday night followed the competition events.
The men entered an additional time trial for the 200-yard freestyle relay. The time trials are used to help qualify individuals and relays for the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, in late March, but do not count toward the conference meet. After sending three relays to the NCAA Championships last March, the Lopes will be present at NCAAs again.
Bogdan Plavin, Florent Janin, Mark Nikolaev and Daniil Antipov completed the time trial in 1 minute, 17.21 seconds, beating the NCAA Automatic Qualifying A-cut time of 1:17.41. In addition to qualifying the 200 freestyle relay, the 400 freestyle relay also will now swim in Austin because its previous B-cut time now qualifies it when paired with GCU having an A-cut in another relay.
"We reshuffled the deck with the relay lineup and went for it again in a time trial at the end of tonight's session," Schaffer said. "Bogdan got us out fast and Mark threw down the fastest 50 freestyle relay split in our team's history with an 18.70. Florent, who had never been under 20 seconds before, exploded for a 19.37 and Daniil got us home with a final time of 1:71.21. It was an amazing effort and a great way to end the night."
The first of three event wins for the men came in the 200 freestyle relay, which counted for conference points. Mazen Shoukri, Plavin, Antipov and Nikolaev earned 40 points for the Lopes, winning the event in 1:18.17.
Antipov and Nikolaev picked up their first individual WAC champion honors, as Antipov won the 500 freestyle in 4:18.73 and Nikolaev won the 200 individual medley in 1:44.40.
"This was Daniil's first time to swim the 500 freestyle at the WAC Championships," Schaffer said. "We want to give him a chance to win three events this week and we felt the 500 freestyle would give him the best opportunity along with both butterfly events. That turned out to be a very good decision as he crushed our team record and won handily."
In the 50 freestyle finals, GCU earned 44 points as Plavin finished second with a time of 19.57, Shoukri in fifth (20;13) and Janin in sixth (20.19).
Pietro Hufnagel Toscani and Nick Benson earned points in the 3-meter dive, as Hufnagel Toscani finished fourth with 305.85 points, while Benson finished sixth with 273.9 points.
In women's action, Kyra Forrest, Roaia Mashaly, Kenya McCray and Emily Muteti teamed to take third in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.31, earning 32 points.
In her first individual finals appearance at WAC, Marina McInelly finished seventh in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:03.62.
Muteti and Mashaly finished sixth (23.29) and seventh (23.30) in the 50 freestyle.
"The women slipped a bit today and are sitting in seventh going into tomorrow," Schaffer said. "Today was not our strongest events, but we will have an opportunity to fight our way back up in the standings. I am excited to see how they respond tomorrow."
WAC action resumes Friday with the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and the 400 medley relay.
Day 2 WAC Championships standings
Men
1. Grand Canyon - 284
2. Wyoming - 259
3. California Baptist - 230
4. Air Force - 229
5. UNLV - 197
6. CSU Bakersfield - 131
7. Seattle U - 63
Women
1. Northern Arizona - 321.50
2. Northern Colorado - 209.50
3. Idaho - 197
4. New Mexico State - 196
5. California Baptist - 189
6. CSU Bakersfield - 153
7. Grand Canyon - 151
8. Seattle U - 44
All information regarding the WAC Championships can be found here.
Preliminary competition will begin at 9:30 a.m. (Phoenix time), with the finals beginning at 5 p.m. (Phoenix time) each day this week.
Live stats will be available throughout the week for swimming and diving. There will be video of diving and swimming preliminaries on the WAC's Facebook, with the finals being streamed on the WAC Digital Network.
For more on GCU swimming and diving, follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @GCU_Swimming.
The men lead with 284 points, 29 ahead of second-place Wyoming, after winning one relay and two individual events on Thursday.
"It was another exciting day for us," Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer said. "The men went into Thursday's finals knowing that Wyoming had five more scoring opportunities than we did and our guys stepped up and raced very well to hold on to the lead by the end of the day. While our best swimmers won their share of gold today, it was our depth in our next tier of guys that kept us in the lead today."
However, the highlight of Thursday night followed the competition events.
The men entered an additional time trial for the 200-yard freestyle relay. The time trials are used to help qualify individuals and relays for the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, in late March, but do not count toward the conference meet. After sending three relays to the NCAA Championships last March, the Lopes will be present at NCAAs again.
Bogdan Plavin, Florent Janin, Mark Nikolaev and Daniil Antipov completed the time trial in 1 minute, 17.21 seconds, beating the NCAA Automatic Qualifying A-cut time of 1:17.41. In addition to qualifying the 200 freestyle relay, the 400 freestyle relay also will now swim in Austin because its previous B-cut time now qualifies it when paired with GCU having an A-cut in another relay.
WE'RE SENDING RELAYS TO NCAAs 🏊♂️
— GCU Swim & Dive (@GCU_Swimming) March 1, 2019
Bogdan Plavin, Florent Janin, Mark Nikolaev and Daniil Antipov completed the 200 Freestyle Relay Time Trial in (1:17.21) beating the NCAA Automatic Qualifying A-Cut time of 1:17.41 & qualifying the 200 & 400 Free Relay!#LopesUp | #WACsd pic.twitter.com/T64Gq9Sl8f
"We reshuffled the deck with the relay lineup and went for it again in a time trial at the end of tonight's session," Schaffer said. "Bogdan got us out fast and Mark threw down the fastest 50 freestyle relay split in our team's history with an 18.70. Florent, who had never been under 20 seconds before, exploded for a 19.37 and Daniil got us home with a final time of 1:71.21. It was an amazing effort and a great way to end the night."
The first of three event wins for the men came in the 200 freestyle relay, which counted for conference points. Mazen Shoukri, Plavin, Antipov and Nikolaev earned 40 points for the Lopes, winning the event in 1:18.17.
Antipov and Nikolaev picked up their first individual WAC champion honors, as Antipov won the 500 freestyle in 4:18.73 and Nikolaev won the 200 individual medley in 1:44.40.
"This was Daniil's first time to swim the 500 freestyle at the WAC Championships," Schaffer said. "We want to give him a chance to win three events this week and we felt the 500 freestyle would give him the best opportunity along with both butterfly events. That turned out to be a very good decision as he crushed our team record and won handily."
In the 50 freestyle finals, GCU earned 44 points as Plavin finished second with a time of 19.57, Shoukri in fifth (20;13) and Janin in sixth (20.19).
Pietro Hufnagel Toscani and Nick Benson earned points in the 3-meter dive, as Hufnagel Toscani finished fourth with 305.85 points, while Benson finished sixth with 273.9 points.
In women's action, Kyra Forrest, Roaia Mashaly, Kenya McCray and Emily Muteti teamed to take third in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.31, earning 32 points.
In her first individual finals appearance at WAC, Marina McInelly finished seventh in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:03.62.
Muteti and Mashaly finished sixth (23.29) and seventh (23.30) in the 50 freestyle.
"The women slipped a bit today and are sitting in seventh going into tomorrow," Schaffer said. "Today was not our strongest events, but we will have an opportunity to fight our way back up in the standings. I am excited to see how they respond tomorrow."
WAC action resumes Friday with the 400 individual medley, 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and the 400 medley relay.
Day 2 WAC Championships standings
1. Grand Canyon - 284
2. Wyoming - 259
3. California Baptist - 230
4. Air Force - 229
5. UNLV - 197
6. CSU Bakersfield - 131
7. Seattle U - 63
Women
1. Northern Arizona - 321.50
2. Northern Colorado - 209.50
3. Idaho - 197
4. New Mexico State - 196
5. California Baptist - 189
6. CSU Bakersfield - 153
7. Grand Canyon - 151
8. Seattle U - 44
Friday, Mar. 1
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
400 Medley Relay
Saturday, Mar. 2
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
1650 Freestyle
400 Freestyle Relay
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
400 Medley Relay
Saturday, Mar. 2
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
1650 Freestyle
400 Freestyle Relay
All information regarding the WAC Championships can be found here.
Preliminary competition will begin at 9:30 a.m. (Phoenix time), with the finals beginning at 5 p.m. (Phoenix time) each day this week.
Live stats will be available throughout the week for swimming and diving. There will be video of diving and swimming preliminaries on the WAC's Facebook, with the finals being streamed on the WAC Digital Network.
For more on GCU swimming and diving, follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @GCU_Swimming.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
/ Women's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
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