Lopes fall to Air Force in 2-day dual

Friday, November 8

Phoenix, Ariz.

Grand Canyon

186

167

Air Force

Photo by: Jack Gilday

11/10/2024 10:45:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

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GCU looks ahead to 4-team Purdue Invitational

By: Nathan Peters

The Grand Canyon men's and women's swimming and diving teams dropped a pair of two-day dual meets with Air Force at home this weekend.

In close battles on Friday and Saturday, the Lopes fell 199-154 on the women's side and 186-167 in the men's competition at Fr. Edward A. Reese Aquatic Complex.

The Lopes opened Friday with a win in the women's 200-yard individual medley relay. The team, composed of sophomore Bailey Gott, graduate Raphaela Nakashima, junior Paula Martinez Moreno and senior Maria Brunlehner, went for a time of 1 minute 42.4 seconds.

Nakashima went on to win the 100 breaststroke, touching first at 1:02.58.

The GCU men's medley team also was victorious with a time of 1:28.88 behind juniors Alex Volkov and Mario Perez as well as graduate Harper Houk and sophomore Jasu Ovaskainen.

Perez also picked up a win in the 50 freestyle, going 20.57 seconds.

Burnlehner took the first individual race for GCU with a time of 51.13 seconds in the 100 freestyle. The 50 freestyle was a similar story for the Kenyan when she swam it in 23.06 for first place.

Spaniards Martinez Moreno (1:59.83) and Marta Guasp (2:02.94) went first and second in the 200 backstroke.

Martinez Moreno also won the 100 butterfly (54.46) and 200 butterfly (2:02.39).

Freshman Batu Servi (4:30.83) and Easton Mousser (4:31.06) finished one-two in the 500 freestyle.

Between the end of Friday and start of Saturday, GCU picked up three relay victories, touching first in the men's 400 freestyle relay (2:59.81), women's 400 medley relay (3:44.00) and men's 400 medley relay (3:15.48).

The Lopes snagged the top three spots in the 100 backstroke with Alex Volkov (48.63), junior Daniel Volkov (50.09) and senior Sam Jennings (50.19).

In diving, freshman Omar Elsayed placed first in the competitions at 1 meter (307.50 points) and 3 meters (376.88).

GCU will taper next week before heading to the Purdue Invitational for the Nov. 21-23 midseason meet in West Lafayette, Indiana.