Nikolaev becomes All-American

AUSTIN, Texas - History was made for Grand Canyon as senior Mark Nikolaev finished third in the NCAA Championships final of the 100-yard backstroke, becoming the first GCU man to make an All-America first team in the Lopes' Division I era.

"I am absolutely thrilled for Mark (Nikolaev)," Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer said. "He trained so well this year to be able to improve on last year's experience and it has really payed off. He is a remarkable athlete."

For Nikolaev, swimming on the big stage was not new to him. After finishing 10th in the 100 backstroke at the NCAA Championships last year and fifth in Friday morning's preliminaries with a time of 44.49 seconds, Nikolaev knew how to prepare for the biggest race of his life, thus far.

"I was able to listen to music and turn off my head and emotions as we walked to the blocks," Nikolaev said. "I had a different strategy going into the finals then I did in the preliminaries. In the morning, I tried to go all out from the very beginning and that was a big mistake."

Great swimmers learn from their mistakes, as Nikolaev swam a lifetime best in his last 100 backstroke for GCU with a team and WAC record time of 44.33. Nikolaev swam the final 50 yards in 22.39, the fastest time in NCAA history.

"My second half in my first swim was so bad," Nikolaev said. "But in the finals, I kind of went easy in the first half and in the second half, I believe I had the fastest second half in the history so it was good."

Nikolaev's third-place finish came behind defending champion Coleman Stewart of North Carolina State in second (44.58) and Harvard's Dean Farris in first (43.66). Nikolaev finished in front of last year's runner-up, John Shebat of host Texas.

The Lopes enter their final day at NCAA Championships on Saturday as senior Daniil Antipov and Nikolaev compete in their final individual events of their GCU career. Antipov will compete in the 200 butterfly while Nikolaev will swim the 200 backstroke.

Anitpov competed in the 100 butterfly preliminary round, finishing 24th with a team and WAC record time of 45.92. Antipov is ranked No. 32 in the 200 butterfly (1:42.35) with Nikolaev sits at No. 22 in the nation in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:40.81.

GCU also will compete in their last relay as Bogdan Plavin, Nikolaev, Florent Janin and Antipov swim in the 400 freestyle relay with an entry time of 2:52.66.

"We are having an excellent meet," Schaffer said. "Our relay guys have been great and Mark (Nikolaev) and Daniil (Antipov) have had their best times, setting team and WAC records with each event they have swam. With Mark's swim we have already exceeded our team point total from last year. Now, we have three more opportunities tomorrow morning to make the scoring heats in finals. It will be an exciting day."

Headed into the final day, the Lopes sit in 29th place with 16 points.

"Today was great for me and all, but its going to get better for the team overall," Nikolaev said. "Especially with recruiting. A lot of people haven't heard of GCU, but now they have. It's great for generations to come."

The preliminary rounds will begin at 8 a.m. (Phoenix time) and the finals will start 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. Preliminary standing-room-only tickets will be $10 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
Saturday
200-yard backstroke
100-yard freestyle
200-yard breaststroke
200-yard butterfly
Platform diving
400-yard freestyle relay
1,650-yard freestyle

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

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Daniil Antipov

Florent Janin

Mark Nikolaev

Bogdan Plavin

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