Brunlehner sets record at CSCAA nationals

Thursday, March 10

Elkhart, Ind.

7:30 A.M. / 4 P.M.

Grand Canyon

CSCAA National Invitational

Photo by: Deb Schaffer

3/10/2022 8:27:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

Armstrong secures 2 silver medals to go with Brunlehner's 1

By: Chelsie Davidson

ELKHART, Ind. — The Grand Canyon men's and women's swimming teams collected three medals and a new program record on the first day of finals at the CSCAA National Invitational in Elkhart, Indiana. The GCU men remain in fourth place with 193 points while the Lopes women are in seventh place with 134 points.

Sophomore Jack Armstrong and freshman Maria Brunlehner combined for three podium finishes to highlight GCU's night.

Armstrong, a native of Manvel, Texas, finished second in the 50-yard butterfly and the 50 freestyle (19.73), leading the men's side with 42 points.

Brunlehner, a native of Mombasa, Kenya, broke her program record when she earned a silver medal in the 50 breaststroke with a time of 28.25, an improvement of 0.11. She leads the women with 21 points.

Sophomore Rapahela Nakashima finished behind Brunlehner in the 50 breaststroke with an 11th-place finish, posting a time of 28.48.

To continue on the women's side, junior Briana Rittenbach finished eighth in the 50 backstroke with a season-best time of 25.45.

Senior duo Claire Banic and Emily Muteti went 12 and 13 in the "B" final of a competitive 50 freestyle race. Muteti also finished 17th in the 50 butterfly with a time of 24.88.

On the men's side, seniors Samuel McKenzie and Florent Janin finished 12th (20.20) and 14th (20.27), respectively, in the 50 freestyle "B" final for the men's squad.

GCU also saw two Lopes in the men's 50 breaststroke "B" final. Amir Haviv finished 13th (25.12) while Janin finished 19th(25.46).

Mikhail Lyubavskiy swam a time of four minutes, 24.10 seconds for an eighth-place finish in the 500 freestyle.

In the 50 butterfly, McKenzie placed fifth with a time of 21.46 while classmate Adrian Curbelo Tejera finished 10th at 21.86.

Dylan Nasser finished 19th with a time of 23.09 in the 50 backstroke.

In the 200 individual medley, junior Griffin McKean finished 10th with a time of 1:48.85.

The Lopes opened the finals with the 200 freestyle relay. The women claimed seventh with a time of 1:31.55 while the men placed fifth (1:19.25).

It was a great first day for the Lopes. They closed out the first day of the finals with sixth-place finishes in the 400 medley relay (3:41.72) for the women and ninth place (3:16.18) for the men.

The second day of preliminaries will begin Friday at 7:30 a.m. (Phoenix time).

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