Men win Miami Invitational; women take 2nd

Thursday, December 1

Oxford, Ohio

Grand Canyon

Miami Invitational

Women's swimmer after finishing with school record

Photo by: Deb Schaffer

12/4/2022 9:30:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

By: Nathan Peters

OXFORD, Ohio — The Grand Canyon men's swimming and diving won the Miami Invitational on Saturday with 1,107.5 points in the eight-team meet while the Lopes women took second in the nine-team meet with 866 points.

GCU's success included:

two NCAA B cuts
three team records
four NCAA Zone diving cuts
24 CSCAA National Invitational A cuts
92 CSCAA National Invitational B cuts
119 lifetime-best times

"We had a very good meet," Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer said. "We learned a lot about what we need to prepare for the WAC Championships and the postseason championship meets."

Throughout the invitational, GCU kept its foot on the gas.

Lopes sophomore Sam Jennings had another good performance Saturday, coming in first in the 200-yard backstroke. He recorded a finals time of 1 minute, 44.2 seconds.

GCU's Maria Brunlehner also continued her weekend success with a first-place finish in the 100 freestyle. The sophomore finished with a time of 49.99.

In the 100 freestyle, freshman Eli Cohen finished first to the wall at 43.79. Eli also contributed to the 400 freestyle relay's win with a time of 2:57.14. The team also included freshman Alex Volkov, sophomore Vitaly Kostin and senior Omar Elsayd.

In the men's 200 breaststroke, the Lopes took the top four spots. Freshman Jonathan Rom was the first-place finisher at 1:56.74, followed by junior Harper Houk, freshman Carter Dooling and sophomore Wyatt Dickman.

In diving, junior Isaac Poole set a team record in platform with a score of 342.6, helping him to qualify for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. Poole also qualified for the 1-meter event.

For women's diving, senior Abigail Erickson and sophomore Shiori Bak qualified for NCAA Zone Diving Championships in platform.

"We are a very young team and we have really come a long way in a short time," Schaffer said. "We still have a lot of room for improvement, and a lot of work to do, but I am very pleased with the progress we are making."

Final meet results can be found here.

Next up, the Lopes will host Arizona Christian and Ottawa at home on Dec. 10.

Day 2 recap

GCU had another great day at the Miami Invitational on Friday. Through 216 events in the meet, the men's team continues to lead with 762.5 points. The women are holding second place with 584 points.

Friday's success came from multiple Lopes' victories.

The men's 200-yard medley relay came in first with a time of 1 minute, 27.91 seconds. The team was made up of Jennings, Houk, graduate Adrian Curbelo and Elsayd. Jennings also won the 100 backstroke with a time of 48.45.

In the 400 individual medley, senior Griffin McKean got to the wall first at a time of 3:54.00.

Kostin finished first with a time 1:37.08 in the 200 freestyle. This is the second consecutive night the sophomore secured first at this midseason invitational. Rom won the 100 backstroke, coming in at 54.46 seconds while the Lopes also took second with Houk finishing at 54.53 seconds.

For the women's team, junior Raphaela Nakashima won the 100 breaststroke with a 1:01.84 finals time.

GCU closed out the day with a one-two finish in the men's 800 freestyle relay.

Day 2 results can be found here.

Day 1 recap

GCU got off to a strong start at the midseason Miami Invitational. After concluding the first day with 112 events taking place Thursday, the Lopes men lead the eight-team meet with 361 points. Meanwhile, the GCU women are in second place with 270 points.

The Lopes had numerous impressive Day 1 performances.

The men had a first-place finish from the 400-yard medley relay team made up of Jennings, Rom, Curbelo and Elsayd. The relay team finished with a time of 3 minutes, 13.01 seconds.

Among the top performers from the day was Brunlehner winning the 200 individual medley in 2:01.33.

On the men's side, Kostin finished first in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:22.47, which was more tha three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Perhaps the most impressive Thursday result came when Aleksandra Wegrzynowska swam in the 500 freestyle. The sophomore from Poland finished it with a GCU record time of 4:53.89.

Full results from Day 1 can be found here.