Intrasquad proves depth will be one strength of many

Saturday, September 30

Phoenix, Ariz.

8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Purple-Black Intrasquad Meet

Photo by: Nathan Peters

10/1/2023 8:15:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

Team black gets win over team purple

By: Nathan Peters

The Grand Canyon swimming and diving program competed in its annual Purple vs. Black intrasquad meet at Edward A. Reese Aquatic Center Saturday. The meet had a total of 45 events. The captains drafted teams behind closed doors and also acted as coaches in deciding who would swim each event.

On the women's side, team black beat team purple, but in the men's competition the opposite was true. At the end of the day, team black defeated team purple with a combined score of 433-397 points.

"This was a very good warm-up for the season," Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer said. "Most of our returners were faster than this time last year and many of our new swimmers showed that they are ready to make an impact right away."

The team black women's 400-yard medley relay made up of graduate student Briana Rittenbach, senior Raphaela Nakashima, sophomore Paula Martinez Moreno, and sophomore Kailee Patters had a screaming first swim of the day with a time of 3 minutes 44.51 seconds.

Senior Harper Houk picked up the 100 individual medley win for team purple. The Knoxville native, swam a time of 51.79.

The freshman swimmers proved themselves early on in the distance events. Vivi Criscione finished first in the women's 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:30.98. In the men's 1000 freestyle event, freshman Colin Campbell (9:52.76) and Kyle Stocek (9:55.59) went one-two.

After this summer where she competed in the World Championships, junior Maria Brunlehner picked up where she left off last season. The reigning WAC women's swimmer of the year took first place in both the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle.

Freshman Guillermo Carrey Bosque was impressive in his debut for the Lopes, placing first in the men's 50 freestyle with a time of 21.02 in addition to strong relay performances.

The stacked 100 breaststroke showdown resulted in sophomore Carter Dooling beat out Jonathan Rom and alumni Youssef El Kamash with a time of 55.32.

In diving, junior Shiori Bak placed first in both the one- and three-meter competitions while senior Isaac Poole did the same on the men's side.

"We have a lot to be excited about with the start of our season against Simon Fraser and Idaho next week," Schaffer said.

The Lopes will open their season in Moscow, Idaho as they will look to build off of the best combined finish at the WAC Championships in program history, where both teams placed second.

Live results from Saturday's meet can be found here.