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
Lopes finish top 35 at NCAAs
3/30/2019 5:20:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Antipov, Nikolaev, Plavin wrap up GCU careers
AUSTIN, Texas - The Grand Canyon men's swimming team completed its highest NCAA Championships finish on Saturday, topping last season's Division I postseason debut with a 32nd-place finish nationally this year.
GCU's NCAA Championships team of senior Daniil Antipov, freshman Florent Janin, sophomore Asahi Nagahata, senior Mark Nikolaev and senior Bogdan Plavin finished the meet with 16 points, thanks to Nikolaev's All-America performance on Friday evening with a third-place swim in the 100-yard backstroke.
"Our team's success is credited to (GCU head coach) Steve (Schaffer) and how we practiced this year," Nikolaev said. "It was great. This moment meant a lot to me, but I think it meant much more to our team and the following years to come."
Nikolaev and Antipov wrapped up their collegiate careers by swimming their individual events in their final appearance at NCAAs, becoming the first two GCU swimmers to qualify individually for NCAAs in back-to-back years.
"Daniil and Mark were part of that four-year transition," Schaffer said. "These guys missed out on two years of being able to come to NCAAs when they could've gone. It's just another step in the process for our program."
Nikolaev opened up Saturday's preliminaries with a 28th-place finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:41.81 and Antipov finished 29th in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:43.11.
In the final event of the morning session, Nikolaev (42.43), Plavin (44.21), Janin (42.78) and Antipov (43.49) finished 19th in the 400 freestyle relay.Â
Nikolaev's opening 100 freestyle split of 42.43Â set a new WAC record, breaking the 22-year-old record of 42.50 set by Lars Frolander of Southern Methodist.
"It's a better finish here than last year," Schaffer said. "We're moving in the right direction. It's all a process when you're trying to build a program. We will just keep building on this and it will help our recruiting and we we will just continue to look for better things each year."
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For more on GCU swimming and diving, follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @GCU_Swimming.
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GCU's NCAA Championships team of senior Daniil Antipov, freshman Florent Janin, sophomore Asahi Nagahata, senior Mark Nikolaev and senior Bogdan Plavin finished the meet with 16 points, thanks to Nikolaev's All-America performance on Friday evening with a third-place swim in the 100-yard backstroke.
"Our team's success is credited to (GCU head coach) Steve (Schaffer) and how we practiced this year," Nikolaev said. "It was great. This moment meant a lot to me, but I think it meant much more to our team and the following years to come."
Nikolaev and Antipov wrapped up their collegiate careers by swimming their individual events in their final appearance at NCAAs, becoming the first two GCU swimmers to qualify individually for NCAAs in back-to-back years.
"Daniil and Mark were part of that four-year transition," Schaffer said. "These guys missed out on two years of being able to come to NCAAs when they could've gone. It's just another step in the process for our program."
Nikolaev opened up Saturday's preliminaries with a 28th-place finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:41.81 and Antipov finished 29th in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:43.11.
In the final event of the morning session, Nikolaev (42.43), Plavin (44.21), Janin (42.78) and Antipov (43.49) finished 19th in the 400 freestyle relay.Â
Nikolaev's opening 100 freestyle split of 42.43Â set a new WAC record, breaking the 22-year-old record of 42.50 set by Lars Frolander of Southern Methodist.
"It's a better finish here than last year," Schaffer said. "We're moving in the right direction. It's all a process when you're trying to build a program. We will just keep building on this and it will help our recruiting and we we will just continue to look for better things each year."
Â
For more on GCU swimming and diving, follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @GCU_Swimming.
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Players Mentioned
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
/ Men's Swimming and Diving
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