Lopes send 5 swimmers to NCAAs

AUSTIN, Texas - Five members of the WAC Championship Grand Canyon men's swimming team will travel to The Lone Star State this week to compete in the NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships for the second consecutive season.

Daniil Antipov, Florent Janin, Asahi Nagahata, Mark Nikolaev and Bogdan Plavin will represent the Lopes at the University of Texas in the team relays, while Antipov and Nikolaev also will compete individually.

Antipov will compete in the 100-yard butterfly and 200 butterfly. He sits at No. 42 in the nation in the 100 butterfly (46.11) and No. 32 in the 200 butterfly (1:42.35).

Nikolaev will be competing in the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke. Nikolaev enters the NCAA Championships with the second-fastest time in the nation in the 100 backstroke with an A-Cut time of 44.61, which he set at the Hawkeye Invitational in October. In the 200 backstroke, Nikolaev ranks No. 22 in the nation with a time of 1:40.81.

The 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke will take place Friday with the 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke following on Saturday. The preliminary rounds for each event will begin at 8 a.m. (Phoenix time) with the finals beginning at 4 p.m. (Phoenix time)

The Lopes will compete in three relay events throughout the week.

Antipov, Janin, Nikolaev and Plavin will compete in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, while Antipov, Janin, Nagahata and Nikolaev will team up for the 400 medley relay.

GCU's 200 freestyle relay enters the week ranked No. 17 with a time of 1:17.21. The 400 freestyle relay sits at No. 25 (2:52.66) and the 400 medley relay in 29th with a time of 3:08.67.

The 200 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay will take place Thursday with the preliminary rounds for both events beginning at 8 a.m. (Phoenix time) and the finals starting at 4 p.m. (Phoenix time).

The 400 freestyle relay will be Saturday with the preliminary round starting at 8 a.m. (Phoenix time) and the finals beginning at 4 p.m. (Phoenix time).

Standing room only tickets are available for purchase the day of competition and will be sold at the door. Admission is free for the Wednesday evening session, but the preliminary round standing room only tickets will be $10 Thursday through Saturday, with the finals standing room only tickets being $15.

All events will be held at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center off East Martin Luther King Drive, between Trinity and Red River streets (1900 Red River St., Austin, Texas).

Meet Schedule
Wednesday
800-yard freestyle relay

Thursday
200-yard freestyle relay
500-yard freestyle relay
200-yard individual medley
50-yard freestyle
1-meter diving
400-yard medley relay

Friday
400-yard individual medley
100-yard butterfly
200-yard freestyle
100-yard breaststroke
100-yard backstroke
3-meter diving
200-yard medley relay

Saturday
1,650-yard freestyle
200-yard backstroke
100-yard freestyle
200-yard breaststroke
200-yard butterfly
Platform diving
400-yard freestyle relay

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

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Daniil Antipov

Florent Janin

Asahi Nagahata

Mark Nikolaev

Bogdan Plavin

Grand Canyon University Athletics