Tight meet falls short for GCU

Saturday, January 11

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

141

159

BYU

Photo by: Roaia Mashaly

1/11/2020 6:46:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving

GCU vs. BYU Meet

Lopes fall to Cougars 159-141

By: Sierra Smith

The Grand Canyon men's team fell in a close 159-141 meet to BYU on Saturday at Fr. Edward Reese Aquatic Center in Phoenix.

The Lopes had several great swims along with a strong diving performance from senior Pietro Hufnagel Toscani, who took first place in the 1- and 3-meter dives with scores of 323.70 and 372.30.

"Our men swam unbelievably well today, and gave a strong BYU team a solid run through the final relay," GCU associate head coach Chris O'Linger said. "It was great to see us step up in some events where we needed to heading into championship season."

To kick off the meet, the Lopes men finished second in the 200 freestyle medley relay swam by sophomore Kainan Coerin, freshman Amir Haviv, sophomore Mazen Shoukri and sophomore Florent Janin in 1 minute and 30.97 seconds.

The Lopes swept the top three spots in three of the events, including the 1,000 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

In the 1,000 freestyle, the top three places were taken by sophomore Mikhail Lyubavskiy (9:33.54), senior Wiktor Jaszczak (9:38.52) and sophomore Alonso Carazo Barbero.

Freshman Griffin McKean won the 200 freestyle (1:42.38) while junior Dylan Nasser claimed second (1:43.04) and freshman Briggs Shiller took third (1:43.23).

The 100 backstroke was won by Coerin (51.64) while senior Eran Ber took second (51.68) and junior Cameron Carney placed third (51.71).

Lyubavskiy showed a strong performance throughout the meet. On top of the first-place finish in the 1,000, he took first in the 500 freestyle (4:35.64) and then placed second in the 200 butterfly (1:54.88).

Shoukri placed second in the 100 butterfly (50.11) and also helped the Lopes end the meet with a second-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay with freshman Omar Khaled, Carney and Janin (3:04.27).

"Putting up in-season times and showing depth like we did today is a testament of our men's will to compete every chance we get," O'Linger said. "Our focus will shift toward carrying these types of performances through our WAC and postseason national championships."

The Lopes return home on Jan. 25 for their Senior Day in a one-day meet against California Baptist at 1 p.m.

Follow GCU swimming and diving on Twitter and Instagram at @GCU_Swimming for more information throughout the season.