Shorthanded Lopes tie Lancers

Saturday, December 12

Phoenix, Ariz.

Grand Canyon

145

California Baptist

Photo by: Mathew McGraw

12/12/2020 6:51:00 PM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Mcknight dives to school record on 1-meter board

By: Mark Oshidari

Results

Despite only suiting up eight swimmers, the Grand Canyon women's swimming and diving team earned a 145-145 tie against California Baptist in conference action on Saturday.

The shorthanded Lopes claimed wins in 10 of 16 events in an exciting home meet at Fr. Edward A. Reese Aquatic Center.

"This was perhaps the swimmers and divers most complete team effort we have ever had in a dual meet for both our women and men in all my years of coaching at GCU," said head coach Steve Schaffer. "Almost all of our swimmers and divers scored points for us, and it was one of the fastest dual meets we have ever had at home with 6 new pool records set, 3 by us and 3 by Cal Baptist. COVID has made this season so much more difficult for our athletes, and to see both teams showed that they have the resiliency to put all of that aside and step up and compete as well as they did was so inspiring to watch. I am very proud of all them!"

After freshman diver Lizzy Mcknight captured the 1- and 3-meter diving events with NCAA zone qualifying scores, the Lopes needed to win the final event to earn the tie. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of redshirt junior Emily Muteti, sophomore Cecelia Mayer, junior Robyn Edwards and freshman Madeline Vindiola defeated CBU with a time of 3 minutes and 28.5 seconds, easily defeating the Lancers by 5.6 seconds.

Muteti was part of two winning relay teams and also claimed victories in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Her time of 54.82 in the 100 butterfly was a pool record.

The Lopes swept a pair of events. In the 100 backstroke, Briana Rittenbach (56.53) led the GCU sweep, followed by Edwards (56.91) and freshman Ellie Mercer (57.64). Edwards won the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:01.69. She was followed by Vindiola (2:06.97) and Mercer (2:08.63).

Other GCU winners included junior Kristina Miletic in the 200 individual medley (2:06.67) and Vindiola in the 200 freestyle (1:52.48).

GCU won the opening 200 medley relay (Rittenbach, Miletic, Mayer, Muteti) with a time of 1:43.96.

In 1-meter diving, Mcknight set a school record with a score of 305.17. The previous mark was set by Sara Castellanos Lamerio in November 2019. Junior Nicole Yeakley finished fourth (250.35) and senior Tasmin Stewart took sixth (202.75).

Mcknight won the 3-meter with a score of 278.10. Yeakley finished fifth (184.95) and Stewart finished seventh (145.85).

"The women were very short-handed this week," Schaffer said. "We had to give away points in a number of events just because we could only field one swimmer or relay in the event and we were still able to come out of the meet with a tie when, on paper, it looked like a sure loss. Everyone gave their best and they battled for every point. It was awesome.

"When everyone does so well, it almost seems unreasonable to single out anyone, but freshman diver Lizzy Mcknight set a team record in the 1-meter event and qualified for the NCAA Zone Championships on both boards while winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. She had an excellent meet and we are very excited to watch her improve."