Returnees make up strength of this season's GCU women - Grand Canyon University Athletics

Friday, October 23

Manoa, HI

Grand Canyon

Hawai'i

Photo by: Jenna Quinn

10/23/2026 11:13:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving, Paul Coro

Lopes bring back Stasny as top 200 breaststroke swimmer in Mountain West

By: Paul Coro

The Grand Canyon women's swimmers competed in an open-water event last week in Long Beach, California, as a part of a program bonding exercise for the pool season that starts Friday and Saturday and Hawai'i.

But they comprise the side of GCU swimming and diving that already knows each other well, with returnees making up the strength of the Lopes' women's team this season.

Women's swimming celebration

Leading the program for a 19th season, head coach Steve Schaffer has an All-Mountain West first-team swimmer in junior Taylor Stasny. GCU's 200-yard breaststroke record-holder bring back the top Mountain West returning time, which also is an NCAA Championships qualifying time.

The Dyer, Indiana, native also will continue swimming the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley and is adding the 400 IM as the team's top butterfly swimmer.

"Taylor is a very versatile, talented swimmer and a good freestyler too," Schaffer said.

The GCU women have depth at breaststroke, where junior Beth Young also thrives in the shorter races. The England native will handle the breaststroke leg of GCU's 200 medley relay.

"Beth came in looking great this year," Schaffer said. "It looks like she worked really hard over the summer. She's really developed her backstroke for the IMs. She's going to help us there, and her freestyle has come up. It's great to see. She's loaded and ready to go."

GCU sophomore Sarah Mose, who is from Poland, is GCU's top 50 and 100 free styler. Mose represented Kenya this summer when the nation hosted the Commonwealth Games and competed at the African Games in Algeria.

"There are other good sprinters, but she'll be right up there," Schaffer said. "She got stronger over the summer. Katelyn Huffman (sophomore from Scottsdale Desert Mountain High School) is behind her in the sprint freestyle. Katelyn is a really fast 50 freestyler. She's right there with Mose."

The Lopes' distance group includes seniors Summer Dean of Everett, Washington, and Vivi Criscione of Corvallis, Oregon, as well as junior Kaitlyn Logue of Gresham, Oregon.

"Kaitlyn gets better every year," Schaffer said. "She swims distance free, from 200, 500 to 1,650 free and then will swim a 200 backstroke. She may see some work in 400 IM."

Highlighting the newcomer group is freshman Duda Luciano, a freshman freestyler from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

"She's going to be very good for us, and I think she could be good at almost every distance," Schaffer said. "We're excited to see what she can add. She can swim a 50, but she was our best 1,000 swimmer when we did a time trial. She offered to swim the 5K at the MPSF Open Water Championship. I've never had anyone volunteer for the 5K if she's not in the distance group."

Luciano was in the lead pack of the MPSF 5,000-meter race in Long Beach, California, before a competitor ripped her swimsuit at one of the turn buoys.

The 23-woman team reloaded with a freshman class of eight and a junior college transfer – junior Wiktoria Maciuszek, who came from reigning national junior college national champion Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida. She can swim sprints, breaststroke and individual medley, but her best event is the 50 backstroke.

Maciuszek, a native of Legnica, Poland, won juco national titles in the 50 backstroke, 50 breaststroke, 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke.

Mya Ernsberger of Goshen, Indiana, and Tatum Fuller of Littleton, Colorado, begin their college careers as sprint freestylers for GCU with another freshman duo of Arianna Hoff of Moorhead, Minnesota, and Nicola Piebiak of Wroclas, Poland, contributing in middle distance.

Hadley Hayes, a former Cal Poly commit who transferred from Wyoming, comes to GCU with full eligibility to start her NCAA career in January. The native of Bend, Oregon, projects to be a talented contributor in the breastroke, freestyle and IM events.

The diving contingent has a pair of returning NCAA zone qualifiers in junior Brooke Woeslaw, a graduate of nearby Canyon View High School, an senior Lucinda Harrison, who is from Australia. Harrison and sophomore diver Kiley Thrush are limited early in the season by injury.

GCU junior diver Hailey-Cate Bull is the feel-good story of the program, making her comeback this week after hitting her neck during a fall practice last year. The Parker, Colorado, native suffered a spinal cord injury and relearned walking on the long path to resuming 1-meter diving this weekend at Hawai'i.

"She's the happiest person I ever met," Schaffer said.