2024 MPSF Open Water Championships
- October 19, 2024
- Long Beach, California
- Open Water
- Results
Final Standings:
Women
1 Grand Canyon—121
2 Cal Baptist—112
3 Fresno State—111
4 Pomona-Pitzer—76
5 Idaho—68
6 Westmont—59
7 Biola—50
8 Concordia—38
9 San Diego—18
10 UC Santa Barbara—18
11 Whittier—11
Men
1 Cal Baptist—129
2 Grand Canyon—126
3 Pomona-Pitzer—86
4 UC Santa Barbara–59
5 Concordia—54
6 Whittier College–51
7 Biola–14
Men’s 5K:
MPSF Champion: Thomas Langlois-Whittier (59.26)
2nd: Mark Kovacsics-Cal Baptist (59.30)
3rd: Batu Servi—Grand Canyon (59.34)
Women’s 5K:
MPSF Champion: Ginger Kiefer-Idaho (1:05.36)
2nd: Kai Flanagan-Cal Baptist (1:05.41)
3rd: Vivi Criscione-Grand Canyon (1:05.42)
Men’s 2000-Meter Relay
MPSF Champion: Grand Canyon (24:06)
Women’s 2000-Meter Relay
MPSF Champion: Fresno State (24:58)
Courtesy: Grand Canyon Athletics:
LONG BEACH, Calif. — The Grand Canyon swimming team had a strong day at the second-ever Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Open Water Championships, where the Lopes’ women placed first out of 11 teams with the GCU men taking second out of seven.
On the Lopes’ men’s side, freshman Batu Servi finished third in the 5-kilometer event with a time of 59 minutes 34 seconds.
Behind Servi, GCU sophomore Colin Campbell finished seventh in the 20-man field with a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes, 52 seconds. In addition, sophomore Joe Stephenson (ninth), freshman Easton Mousser (13th) and senior (15th) all finished in the top 15 for the Lopes.
In the 2,000-meter men’s relay race, Servi, Mousser, Campbell and Stephenson took first place with a time of 24:06.
In the women’s 5K, the Lopes were led by sophomore Vivi Criscione. who placed third out of 45 athletes with a time of 1:05:42.00.
GCU senior Aleksandra Wegrzynowska went 1:07:39 to earn a sixth-place finish.
Sophomore Summer Dean (10th) and senior Maria Chatzi (22nd) each finished in the top 25 for the Lopes as well.
In the 2,000-meter women’s relay, the GCU squad of Chatzi, Criscione, Dean and Wegrzynowska were time at 25:30 for second place, clinching the overall first-place team win for GCU with 121 points.
In addition, Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer competed in the 1,000-meter Master’s race.
All results can be found here from the event.
Courtesy: Cal Baptist Athletics:
LONG BEACH – The Mountain Pacific Sports Foundation hosted its second annual Open Water 5K Championships this morning at Marine Stadium in Long Beach, California. California Baptist University sent a bevy of athletes to the event, winning the men’s team event and finishing runner-up in the relay, while the women took bronze in the relay event but just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in the team competitions.
The Open Water Championships is not yet an NCAA event, but strides are being made to change that. In just one year, participation nearly doubled over the inaugural race in 2023, a good sign for those pushing to include the races within official NCAA events. Today’s events included men’s and women’s 5K races, as well as men’s and women’s 2,000-meter relay races. The 5K races are scored using the top three finishers from each institution, and the relay races take the top finishing quartet from each institution to determine the race’s final results.
Reigning men’s individual champion, CBU’s Mark Kovacsics, claimed silver today with a time of 59:30, just four seconds behind the winner from Whittier College. Teammate Cody Meyer took fourth overall in a time of 1:01.24, and Josh Delizo rounded out the scoring in eighth place at 1:03.58. These three Laners combined for 99 points, finishing a comfortable 15 points ahead of second-place Grand Canyon.
The women’s 5K was next in the programming and saw sophomore Kai Flanagan match Kovacsics’ second-place finish, crossing the tape in a time of 1:05.41. Gabriela Robles was fourth for the Lancers, finishing in 1:06.00, and newcomer Avery Easterling rounded out the scoring for the women, placing T24 in 1:11.48.
Relay events took place in the afternoon, and the CBU men’s A Team took second place out of eight participating teams, finishing at 24:48.0 behind the Lopes A Team. The CBU women’s A Team would claim third place in the end, posting a time of 26:24.0.
