Men's swimming opens in Tucson

Thursday, December 3

Tucson, AZ

10 a.m.

Grand Canyon

1127

1299

Arizona

12/5/2020 3:19:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving

Lopes exceed expectations in opener

By: Mark Oshidari

Results

The Grand Canyon men's swimming team fell to Arizona 1,299-1,127 to open the season at a two-day event in Tucson, where the several Lopes made strong showings.

"This was a good start to our competitive season," GCU head coach Steve Schaffer said. "Both the men and the women really exceeded my expectations for this meet. They raced well and put up very solid times for this point in our training. It's a very different year with COVID making it impossible for many of our swimmers to train over the summer, and others missing out on training this season due to travel restrictions and illness. They all have shown great resilience as we adapt to the changing reality we find ourselves in. I am very proud of them."

Junior Florent Janin headlined the meet for the Lopes with a first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle. Janin finished with a time of 20 seconds flat. In the same event, junior teammate Dawson Sloan finished third with a time of 20.28.

"Our men had a very strong team effort with a surprising number of lifetime best times given where we are in training right now," Schaffer said. "Florent Janin raced exceptionally well in the free events and had a best time in the 100 breast as well to lead the team. Our returners all showed that they are making good progress and several – Omar Elsayd, Nolan Francis, Griffin McKean, Sam McKenzie, Dylan Nasser - all swam at least one lifetime best. We had excellent swims from our other returners and several of our newcomers as well. Adrian Curbelo, Dawson Sloan, Harper Houk, and Jacob Folsom all showed that they will be strong contributors at the end of the season."

Day 1

Sophomore Mikhail Lyubavskiy finished second in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:29.44. Sophomore Amir Haviv finished second in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 55.55. Janin ended up in fourth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 44.35.

The 200 freestyle relay team (sophomore Omar Elsayd, junior Mazen Shoukry, junior Samuel McKenzie, Janin) finished second with a time of 1:21.26.

Day 2

The second day started with the 200 medley relay team (McKenzie, Haviv, junior Adrian Curbelo, Janin) finishing runner-up with a time of 1:28.96.

Other strong GCU finishes included Curbelo taking second in the 100 butterfly (47.76), freshman Harper Houk placing third in the 200 breaststroke (2:01.70) and Janin finishing second in the 200 freestyle (1:38.27).

The meet concluded with the 400 freestyle relay squad of McKenzie, Elsayd, Sloan, Janin swimming a runner-up time of 2:59.41.

GCU is back in action on Saturday when it hosts California Baptist and Northern Arizona at Fr. Edward A. Reese Aquatic Center.