WAC Day 3 sets up Lopes well

HOUSTON -- The Grand Canyon men's swimming and diving team maintained its lead at WAC Championships going into Saturday's finale, while the Lopes women's team remained in seventh place.

The men lead with 472 points, 54 ahead of second-place Air Force, after winning three events for the third consecutive day.

"Our men competed very well today," Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer said. "We have a small lead going into the last day, but we know that Air Force is well coached and more than up to the challenge and knows how to win this meet, so we will have to have a very good morning and afternoon tomorrow to earn the win. It will be an exciting end to the meet tomorrow."

GCU has been perfect in relay events thus far, as senior Mark Nikolaev, sophomore Asahi Nagahata, senior Daniil Antipov and freshman Florent Janin claimed the title in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3 minutes, 9.39 seconds, earning 40 points.

For the second day in a row, Antipov and Nikolaev each walked away with an individual victory. Antipov won the 100 butterfly with a time of 46.11 and Nikolaev won the 100 backstroke in 44.91.

"We had some very big swims from both our seniors and our underclassmen today, "Schaffer said. "Mark (Nikolaev) won the 100 backstroke to complete the four year sweep of that event, which only a few people in the history of the WAC have accomplished. Daniil (Antipov) won the 100 butterfly for the third year in a row and both guys will go for the 4-peat in the 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly, respectively, tomorrow."

Freshman Kainan Coerin and sophomore Cameron Carney contributed points to GCU by finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 100 backstroke.

Nagahata earned a spot in the 100 breaststroke final and 16 points for the Lopes by finishing third with a time of 53.89.

GCU had two individuals score in the 200 freestyle, as freshman Samuel McKenzie finished third (1:37.31) and Janin took seventh (1:38.28) to give 28 points to the Lopes.

Freshman Alonso Carazo Barbero made an appearance in the 400 individual medley final for GCU, finishing fifth in 3:55.45.

On the GCU women's side, junior Roaia Mashaly finished third in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:49.64.

Freshmen Kyra Forrest and Emily Muteti earned spots in the 100 butterfly final, where Forrest finished fifth (55.48) and Muteti was sixth (55.81) to combined for 27 points.

After finishing first in the 100 breaststroke preliminaries, sophomore Marina McInelly finished third in the finals with a time of 1:02.06.

Freshman Brigit Van Der Vegte won a 100 backstroke B-final while Forrest, McInelly, Muteti and Mashaly teamed to finish fourth in the 400 medley relay at 3:43.08.

"The women got excellent individual swims today from Roaia (Mashaly), Kyra (Forrest), Emily (Muteti), and Marina (McInelly)," Schaffer said. "Those four also combined for a very good 400 medley relay. We knew that this was going to be a tough year for team points and hopefully everyone is learning and building for the next season. We have a good core group to build upon and they have all shown great heart this week."

The men head into Saturday with an opportunity to bring home their first-ever WAC title.

The WAC Championships will finish Saturday with the 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, the 1,650 freestyle, 400 freestyle relay and men's platform diving.

Day 3 WAC Championships standings

Men
1. Grand Canyon - 472
2. Air Force - 418
3. California Baptist - 398.50
4. Wyoming - 396
5. UNLV - 317.50
6. CSU Bakersfield - 226
7. Seattle U - 104

Women
1. Northern Arizona - 568.50
2. New Mexico State - 407
3. Idaho - 352
4. California Baptist - 348
5. Northern Colorado - 346.50
6. CSU Bakersfield - 275
7. Grand Canyon - 264
8. Seattle U - 66

Saturday, March 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). Diving preliminaries will begin at 11:15 a.m. (Phoenix time) and the 1,650 freestyle will be held at 2:20 p.m. (Phoenix time).

Live stats will be available tomorrow 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

Daniil Antipov

Alonso Carazo Barbero

Cameron Carney

Kainan De Jesus

Kyra Forrest

Florent Janin

Roaia Mashaly

Marina McInelly

Samuel McKenzie

Emily Muteti

Asahi Nagahata

Mark Nikolaev

Brigit Van Der Vegte

Grand Canyon University Athletics