Lopes glide past opponents in home opener

Saturday, December 11

Phoenix, Ariz.

1 P.M.

Grand Canyon

182.50

117.50

Northern Arizona

12/11/2021 9:01:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

GCU set 11 pool records, won 26 of 32 events

By: Chelsie Davidson

Grand Canyon's swimming and diving teams defeated Northern Arizona, Arizona Christian and Ottawa (Ariz.) at Fr. Edward A. Reese Aquatic Center in its home opener on Saturday.

The women collected three wins in one day after defeating NAU 182.50-117.50, ACU 243-32 and Ottawa 245-20 in dual meets. The Lopes defeated in-state and conference foe NAU for the first time in school history.

"This was without a doubt the most impressive win for our women's team in the history of our program," GCU head coach Steve Schaffer said. "NAU has been the conference champion seven years in a row and, today, we simply outraced them, setting a lot of team records in the process. It was a great way to end the first half of the season."

The Lopes opened the event with a sweep and a pool record in the 200-yard medley relay. The women's team set the pool record with a time of one minute, 41.17 seconds, beating Brigham Young's record time of 1:43.71 from 2020. The men posted a time of 1:31.86 for the victory.

Freshmen continue to rewrite the records for GCU. Aleksandra Wegrzynowska set two pool records in her 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly victories. The Wroclaw, Poland, native also earned a second-place finish the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:58.97. Classmate Maria Brunlehner swam a 49.68 for the 100 freestyle record. Brunlehner also won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:01.12.

Sophomore Raphaela Nakashima, the breaststroke queen, swept the 100 and 200 breaststroke events. She swam a pool record in the 200 with a time of 2:16.81. The Brazilian native won the 100 with a time of 1:02.83, just .05 seconds shy of the 1:02.78 record.

Senior Emily Muteti was feeling free and fly. She set pool records in the 50 freestyle (22.71) and the 100 butterfly (54.19). Classmate Robyn Edwards killed it in the 200 backstroke while also etching herself in the record book. Edwards swam a 1:58.58, beating the 2:01.44 pool record set by Kaitlyn Swinney in 2018.

"Our men got a chance to swim off events and they had a great day of racing as well," Schaffer said.

The men outscored ACU 216-44 and Ottawa 217-36, highlighted by a couple of relay sweeps and individual victories that contributed to the team's total domination. The Lopes won all 14 individual events against the Firestorm and the Spirit.

GCU senior Florent Janin swam a pool record in the 200 freestyle to jump-start the Lopes. The New Caledonia native posted a 1:37.60 to break the 1:37.79 record set by Daniil Antipov in 2019.

Sophomore Jacob Folsom followed up with a win in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.09. Folsom also finished second in the 200 backstroke (1:55.22) behind senior Alonso Carazo Barbero, who swam a 1:51.81 for the win.

Junior Omar Elsayd won the 50 and 100 freestyles with times of 19.90 and 45.12. Classmate Amir Haviv delivered in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 55.19.

On the springboards, junior diver Abigail Erickson earned a second-place finish in the 1-meter event by scoring 281.70 to qualify for the NCAA zones.

"Diving went well today with Abigail showing up with a second- and third-place finish, making her zone qualifying score on 1 meter," Lopes head diving coach Hunter Shafer said.

GCU sophomore Reece Robles won the 1- and 3-meter diving events for the Lopes. Classmate Nicholas Gunn placed second behind Robles.

"Reece had some solid diving coming away with 2 wins," Shafer said. "I am proud of how everybody did against a good team of divers from NAU."

GCU closed out the event with two more victories in the 400 freestyle relays with the women setting another pool record. The women's team, made up of Muteti, freshman Maria Chatzi, junior Kaitlyn Carr and senior Claire Banic, beat the GCU record of 3:28.29 that was set in 2018.

"We still have a lot of work to do before the conference championships," Schaffer said. "But these last two weeks have shown that we are on track."

Up next, GCU will resume competition in the new year when they head to Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Jan. 8.