GCU women finish as WAC runner-up

Saturday, February 26

Houston, Texas

9:30 A.M. / 7 P.M.

Grand Canyon

WAC Championships

WAC Sports Swimming & Diving Championship

Photo by: Juan DeLeon Creative

2/27/2022 12:11:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Day 4 WAC Final Results

Lopes cap best performance in program history with 6 final-day gold medals

By: Chelsie Davidson

HOUSTON — The Grand Canyon women's swimming team finished runner-up at the WAC Championships in Houston on Saturday night. The Lopes fell to nine-time champion Northern Arizona by 51.5 points. This is the smallest margin of victory that the Lumberjacks have posted over the conference runner-up.

GCU's Saturday route to topping 2016, 2020 and 2021 third-place finishes began with senior backstroker Robyn Edwards, who began the finals by earning gold in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1 minutes, 56.53 seconds. Lopes junior Briana Rittenbach also finished sixth in the "A" heat with a time of 1:59.68, while Hannah Barker finished fourth in the 'B' final posting a time of 2:02.69.

Madeline Vindiola went the distance in the 1,650-yard freestyle. She recorded a best time of 17:13.73, dropping 32 seconds off her time.

Kenyan natives, Maria Brunlehner and Emily Muteti combined for two podium finishes in the 100-yard freestyle. Brunlehner placed swam a 49.41 for second place while Muteti posted a time of 49.78 for the bronze. Claire Banic and Kaitlyn Carr also finished fifth and sixth in the GCU stacked 'A' final.

GCU sophomore Raphaela Nakashima placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke 'B' final posting a time of 2:17.93, while teammate Fruzsi Macsok placed third with a time of 2:18.89.

Freshman Aleksandra Wegrzynowska finishes second to earn silver in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of (1:58.63). Classmate Christa Wilson finished second in the 'B' final with a best time of 2:04.95.

The women went out with a big finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The squad made up of Muteti, Banic, Carr and Brunlehner swam a 3:18.34 for the gold and and a new school record.

For diving, junior Abigail Erickson put up 251.45 points in the platform finals to earn the silver medal. Shiori Bak finished fourth with a total score of 227.10, while Lizzy Mcknight placed fifth with a score of 216.60 points.

Up next, GCU will head to the CSCAA Invitational with qualifying swimmers on March 10-12.