Lopes complete program's 1st 5K open

Sunday, December 18

Miami, Fla.

Grand Canyon

CSCAA Open Water Championship

12/18/2022 8:00:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

GCU men finish 6th in Florida; women take 14th

By: Nathan Peters

MIAMI, Fla. —A small group of athletes from the Grand Canyon men's and women's swimming teams competed in the 5k CSCAA Open Water Championship Sunday morning.

The men finished sixth out of 15 teams with a team time of 2 hours 53:14 minutes. The team included Vitaly Kostin, A.J. Sheppard, Griffin McKean, and Wyatt Dickman. Kostin had the best individual finish for the Lopes with a time of 56:55.97 resulting in 14th place out of 83.

The women finished 14th of 21 teams with a team time of 3:09:18. The team included Aleksandra Wegrzynowska, Krisalyn Henderson, Maria Chatzi, Emily Muteti, and Bryn McGinnis. The top women's finisher for the lady Lopes was sophomore Aleksandra Wegrzynowska, who ended with a time of 1:00:48.48 resulting in 29th out of 110.

"I thought our swimmers competed very well today," head coach Steve Schaffer said. "Open water competition is vastly different from pool swimming, so this was a new challenge for us."

This was the first time in program history the Lopes competed in a 5k open water meet.

"I was very impressed with how well they swam," Schaffer said.

The men's and women's swimming and diving team won't be back in action until mid-January, with the diving team participating at the UCLA Diving Invitational starting January 13. The swimming team will be at home against California Baptist on January 21.

Full results from Miami can be found here.