Last season's youth becomes experience for men

Friday, October 6

Moscow, Idaho

Grand Canyon

Simon Fraser (B.C.)

Photo by: Nathan Peters

10/6/2023 2:30:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Paul Coro

WAC runner-up team brings back 7 individual conference meet scorers

By: Paul Coro

Opposing WAC coaches always have been complimentary of the talent in the Grand Canyon men's swimming and diving program.

Last season, the conference coaches started talking about the depth of GCU when a freshman influx bolstered the Lopes. Those youngsters who helped a second consecutive WAC runner-up finish are now returnees who expect to be part of an improved team when the season starts this weekend in Idaho.

Led by mostly underclassmen swimmers, GCU can build on seven returnees who scored at WAC Championships last season and having 60% back from five relays that recorded top-three conference finishes.

"The guys are going to be good this year," Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer said. "Some of it is going to be, 'How does everybody step up?' "

GCU lost a conference champion to graduation in butterfly specialist Adrian Curbelo, but it returns a WAC champ in sophomore Jonathan Rom of Israel. Rom claimed the 200 breaststroke title as a freshman with a WAC-record time that won the race by 1.64 seconds. He also took third in the 200 breaststroke.

Rom is likely the closest of any Lopes swimmer to qualifying for the NCAA Championships. rom

"He's got a shot at NCAAs, and he's really geared up to making a run for making the Israeli Olympic team," Schaffer said.

Rom heads up an outstanding group of GCU breaststroke swimmers, including sophomore Carter Dooling of Tucson and senior Harper Houk of Tennessee also being potential conference scorers.

"Carter is motivated to make the U.S. Olympic Trials," Schaffer said. "He made some big improvements and actually swam faster than Jonathan did this summer in the 200 breaststroke."

Houk captains the team, along with sophomores Atu Ambala of Kenya and Eli Cohen of Israel. Cohen was among last season's conference scorers when he took fourth in the 100 freestyle.

GCU brings back a pair of conference runners-up in junior Sam Jennings (200 backstroke) and sophomore Alex Volkov (100 backstroke), whose brother, Daniel, also could be a backstroke factor after his offseason improvement. Jennings' summer has positioned him to make a move with his 100 backstroke.

Last season's other swimming conference scorer was junior Vitaly Kostin of Russia, a freestyler who peaked in the regular season and took fifth in the 200 and eighth in the 500 at last season's WAC Championships.

"Vitaly is looking to make a bigger impact than he made last year," Schaffer said. "He's a really important piece for us. If we can get him where he should be, then we're going to be in good shape."

Another key swimmer to impact the Lopes' fortunes is sophomore Mohamed Mohamady. He arrived late from Egypt last season, preventing him from getting the proper training for his WAC Championships performance.

"He is just lighting it up from Day 1 here," Schaffer said of Mohamady. "He was in good shape over the summer. He got to swim at World Championships. He is going to try to make a run at Egypt's Olympic team in the 200 backstroke. He can swim 200 IM. He may end up being our best 200 freestyler with the way he is training."

The team depth has been supplemented with another group of strong freshmen, led by Guillermo Carrey Bosque of Spain as a sprint freestyler and backstroker.

The Lopes also added local talent after watching Colin Campbell's senior-year development at Tempe Corona del Sol High School and accepting the walk-on persistence of Chandler High's Ian Hirota.

"Ian is a beast in the pool," Schaffer said. "I didn't think he was going to contend right off the bat, but he's pushing our other breaststrokers. He'll do anything we ask him to. He's going to be way better than we thought he'd be."

The sleeper factor comes from a larger bunch of GCU divers. Lopes second-year diving coach Dan Fecteau brings back seniors Isaac Poole and Reece Robles, who scored in the 1-meter and platform events, respectively, at last season's WAC Championships. Four freshmen give GCU a chance to distance themselves from a crowded conference group race beyond frontrunner UNLV.

"With six divers, we can really make an impact," Schaffer said. "If we can get half of them, if not more, in the top eight, then we can do some damage."

The Lopes have a long course to the early March conclusion of WAC Championships, but they also have an interesting schedule with January visits to national runner-up Arizona State and Tucson to face Arizona. The WAC Championships will return to Pharr, Texas, from Feb. 28 to March 2.

"We'll be in the thick of it," Schaffer said. "The last several years, UNLV has been a tough nut for us to crack, and then it's us, Air Force and Cal Baptist is picking it up. Wyoming's a factor."