Lopes fall in Tempe battle

Saturday, January 4

Tempe, Ariz.

Grand Canyon

233

Arizona State

1/5/2025 7:56:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

GCU gets strong effort from graduate Houk in breaststroke events

By: Nathan Peters

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Grand Canyon swimming and diving team fell in men's and women's dual meets Saturday at Arizona State.

Despite some strong efforts coming out of winter break, the Lopes men fell 233-66 and the women lost 248-48. The Sun Devils men are the defending NCAA champions and are 7-0 on the season.

The Lopes had strong swims from numerous contributors, led by junior Alex Volkov placing second in the 100-yard backstroke at 47.17 seconds. He finished less than one second behind the first-place mark of 46.66 seconds.

On the GCU women's side, Aleksandra Wegrzynowska finished the 200 freestyle with a one-minute, 52.5-second mark. The senior placed third in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:05.20.

Graduate student Harper Houk closed the 100 breaststroke with a time of 55.26 seconds to earn second for the Lopes. The Knoxville native also took second place in the 200 breaststroke event, touching at 2:00.76.

Joe Stephenson, a GCU sophomore, took fourth in the men's 200 butterfly with a time of 1:50.42.

The Lopes went two-three in the 50 freestyle. Sophomore Guillermo Carrey closed at 20.06 with fellow Spaniard Mario Perez finishing at 20.08 seconds. Perez (48.13) and sophomore transfer Jasu Ovaskainen (48.05) were less than one second from the first and second finishers in the 100 butterfly.

GCU's 400 freestyle relay comprised of Perez, Volkov, Carrey and junior Eli Cohen went for 2:56.81 to finish the day.

In diving, the Lopes took second and fourth in the women's 1-meter event with sophomore Lacey Neighbor tallying 249.68 points and Brooke Woeslaw scoring 226.65. Senior Andrew Bussman placed second on the men's side with 313.58 points. Freshman Omar Elsayed placed second in the 3-meter men's competition with 308.63 points.

The women's squad will next head to Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Saturday to face off with the Aggies. The men will not be back in action until Senior Day on Jan. 18 against California Baptist in Phoenix.

Results from Saturday's meet against ASU can be found here.