Lopes men take down Rebels in home defense

Saturday, February 3

Phoenix, Ariz.

11 a.m.

Grand Canyon

151

143

UNLV

Photo by: Wesley Kurz

2/3/2024 7:36:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

GCU seniors honored in last ride at home, create momentum for WAC meet

By: Nathan Peters

The Grand Canyon swimming and diving team closed out the regular-season scheudule at home Saturday with much to look forward to heading into the postseason.

The GCU men defeated reigning WAC champion UNLV in a tight meet with a final score of 151-143 in Phoenix. On the women's side, the Lopes fell 152.5-140.5.

The GCU women started out with a 200-yard medley relay win with graduate student Briana Rittenbach, senior Raphaela Nakashima, sophomore Paula Martinez Moreno and junior Maria Brunlehner going 1 minute, 41.33 seconds to take first.

The Lopes men got out to an important start with their 200 medley relay win, thanks to Alex Volkov, Jonathan Rom, Sam Jennings and Eli Cohen touching first with a time of 1:28.60.

GCU celebrated five seniors in Rittenbach, Ian Shultz, Vitaly Kostin, Reece Robles, and Isaac Poole.

Rittenbach won the 100 backstroke by over a second with a time of 55.76 seconds.

The Lopes men went one-two-three in the 100 backstroke with Sam Jennings (48.67), Alex Volkov (48.78), and Daniel Volkov (50.42).

Jennings went on to also win the 200 backstroke with a mark of 1:45.84. Volkov won the 100 butterfly, going 47.91 to claim first.

Rom, a sophomore, continued his season success with three more individual wins Saturday in Phoenix. The Israel native won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 54.60, the 200 breaststroke with a time of 1:57.23, and the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:49.37. The 200 breaststroke time marks an NCAA Championships B cut.

Sophomore Krisalyn Henderson had a strong day with two wins for the Lopes. Henderson started by winning the 1,650 freestyle (17:09.32) and followed that by taking first in the 200 backstroke (2:03.71).

The Lopes men received crucial points from the diving competitions as Robles, a senior, took first in the 3-meter with 343.35 points while Poole, also a senior, took second in the 1-meter (307.50) and 3-meter (330.60) compettitions.

Saturday marked the final meet of the regular season while the Lopes will now prepare for the WAC Championships, which run Feb. 28- March 2 in Pharr, Texas.

Full results from Saturday can be found here.