GRAND CANYON vs. CAL BAPTIST
- Jan. 25, 2020
- Hosted by GCU
- Short Course Yards
- Full Results
TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
- GCU 163
- Cal Baptist 136
MEN
- GCU 200
- CBU 100
PRESS RELEASE – GRAND CANYON MEN
The Grand Canyon men’s swimming and diving team finished its last home meet of the season with a victory over California Baptist 200-100.
GCU seniors Eran Ber, Asahi Nagahata, Wiktor Jaszczak, Noah Lambert, Pietro Hufnagel Toscani and Nick Benson were recognized for their time as Lopes and were able to help secure the win in their last appearance at home.
“We swam and dove very well today with some surprisingly fast times, including several pool records,” head coach Steve Schaffer said. “It was fun to be able to send off our seniors with wins for their final home meet.”
The Lopes started strong by winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 30.81 seconds by the underclassman team of Kainan Coerin, Amir Haviv, Mazen Shoukri and Florent Janin.
In the 1650 freestyle, GCU swept the top three spots with swims from freshman Mikhail Lyubavskiy (15:26.80), sophomore Alonso Carazo Barbero (15:40.73), and Wiktor Jaszczak (15:50.09).
Another sweep took place from the Lopes in the next event, the 200 freestyle. Sophomore Samuel McKenzie took the gold (1:40.31), while Dylan Nasser took second (1:43.22) and freshman Briggs Shiller placed third (1:43.36).
Shoukri secured two top individual finishes as he took first in the 50 freestyle (20.72) and the 100 butterfly (49.70).
“On paper, the CBU men’s meet was too close to call beforehand, especially after a particularly tough week of training,” Schaffer said. “But everyone came to race. It was a complete team effort.”
The Lopes took first, second and third in the 100 freestyle. McKenzie finished first (45.68), Janin in second (45.70) and freshman Omar Elsayd took third (45.81).
Ber, junior Cameron Carney and Nasser swept the 200 backstroke. First place was claimed by Ber in his final meet at home (1:51.68). Carney took second (1:51.90) and Nasser finished in third (1:52.54).
In the 500 freestyle, the Lopes took the top three spots again with Lyubavskiy leading the way finishing in 4:34.95. Jaszczak finished in second (4:37.35) and freshman Griffin McKean took third (4:41.79).
Carazo Barbero won the 200 individual medley (1:53.32) and Lyubavskiy finished in second place (1:55.23).
In the final event of the meet, the Lopes won the 200 freestyle relay with McKenzie, Elsayd, Shoukri and Janin taking the win (1:22.78).
Toscani won both dives with a score of 367.20 in the 1-meter and 364.05 in the 3-meter dive.
“We had some grumbling about working too hard this week before this meet, so I met with the team before the start today and explained that we are preparing for a tough three-day WAC Championships,” Schaffer said. “They are going to get to the final day of WAC and will be tired like they are now. This week was a rehearsal for that. They certainly passed the test today.”
Up next, the Lopes will travel to UNLV to take on the Rebels before going to the WAC Championships.
Follow GCU swimming and diving on Twitter and Instagram at @GCU_Swimming for more information throughout the season.
PRESS RELEASE – GRAND CANYON WOMEN
The Grand Canyon women’s swimming and diving team finished its last home meet of the season beating California Baptist 163-136 on Saturday afternoon.
Seniors Salma Zaitoun, Talita Te Flan and Roaia Mashaly were recognized for their time at GCU and were able to take home a win for their last time at their home pool.
“We swam and dove very well today with some surprisingly fast times, including several pool records,” Lopes head coach Steve Schaffer said. “It was fun to be able to send off our seniors with wins for their final home meet.”
The Lopes began the day with a win in the first event of the meet, the 200-yard medley relay. Freshman Briana Rittenbach, junior Marina McInelly, freshman Cecelia Mayer and sophomore Emily Muteti finished in 1 minute, 45.02 seconds.
Freshman Kelsey Andrusak won the 200 freestyle, finishing in 1:51.76.
The Lopes swept the 100 backstroke as sophomore Kyra Forrest took the gold (58.23), Rittenbach finished second (58.76) and sophomore Robyn Edwards placed third (58.90).
McInelly had several strong individual swims. She finished first in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.00) and 200 breaststroke (2:18.50) and posted a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley.
“On paper, the CBU women were favored to win the meet,” Schaffer said. “Especially after a particularly tough week of training, everyone came to race. It was a complete team effort.”
Sophomore Emily Muteti claimed the gold in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.23 seconds.
The Lopes placed first, second, and third in the 200 breaststroke with swims from Edwards (2:04.36), Forrest (2:07.93), and sophomore Hannah Barker (2:08.88)
Mayer and Muteti took the top two spots in the 100 butterfly. The first-place time by Mayer was 57.38 seconds while Muteti finished in 57.43 seconds.
In the final event of the meet, the Lopes won the 200 freestyle relay with Andrusak, Mayer, Zaitoun and Muteti (1:36.97).
The women’s divers swept the top three spots in the 1-meter dive led by freshman Sara Lameiro Castellanos with a score of 290.05. Freshman Ava Talorico took second with a score of 251.80 and junior Tasmin Steward placed third scoring 249.80.
“We had some grumbling about working too hard this week before this meet, so I met with the team before the start today and explained that we are preparing for a tough three-day WAC Championships,” Schaffer said. “They are going to get to the final day of WAC and will be tired like they are now. This week was a rehearsal for that. They certainly passed the test today.”
Up next, the Lopes will travel to UNLV to take on the Rebels before going to the WAC Championships.
Follow GCU swimming and diving on Twitter and Instagram at @GCU_Swimming for more information throughout the season.
PRESS RELEASE – CAL BAPTIST MEN
PHOENIX – California Baptist University went on the road to defending Western Athletic Conference champion Grand Canyon and won four events and posted two new top-10 marks in program history on Saturday.
Sean Foster swept both breaststroke events, while Evan Honer and Tyler Stevens improved logged new top-10 scores on the 1-meter board in the dual with the Lopes. Nevertheless, GCU claimed the head-to-head WAC victory, 200-100. The Lancers’ record in dual moves to 3-4 on the year, as they now head into their final dual of their season and Senior Day against UC San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 1 at noon at the Lancer Aquatics Center.
Foster won the 100-yard breaststroke in 55.82 seconds and then touched first in the 200 breast (2:06.22) in front of his teammate Colton Babcock (2:07.15). Josh Walters and Quinn Birtles claimed CBU’s other victories in the 100 backstroke (50.76) and 200 butterfly (1:48.78).
Honer took second place with impressive scores on both boards. The true freshman scored a new season-best of 345.15 points to finish runner-up on the 1-meter board and improve on his top-three score in CBU history. He took second at 3-meter (326), as well.
Sophomore Tyler Stevens scored a new career-best on 1-meter, too, to move into eighth place in the Lancers’ top-10 record book. Zane Freeman took fourth on the 3-meter board with a 290.40.
David Miller (second, 1:51.07) and Adityastha Wratsangka (fourth, 1:52.80) gave CBU three top-four finishers in the 200 fly.
Both of CBU’s relay teams of Jacob Leahy, Foster, Walters and Matthew Niculae took second place in the 200 medley (1:31.63) and 200 free (1:23.00) on Saturday.
Leahy locked up three runner-up swims by taking second in the 50 free (20.90) and also took fourth in the 100 free (47.59). Walters had four top-three swims, as he took in the 100 fly (50.68) just in front of Miller (50.96).
Robert Moseley took third in the 200 individual medley (1:55.78) and fourth in the 200 back (1:54.61). Niculae and Birtles also took fourth in the 200 free (1:43.41) and 1650 free (15:58.86).
PRESS RELEASE – CAL BAPTIST WOMEN
PHOENIX – Five wins and four new top-10 marks helped California Baptist University give Grand Canyon all it could handle on Saturday’s dual.
CBU got wins from five different swimmers, but it still fell to the Lopes on a score of 163-136. The Lancers’ record in dual moves to 2-3-1 on the year, as they now head into their final dual of their season and Senior Day against UC San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 1 at noon at the Lancer Aquatics Center.
The highlight of the day came when Martha Aguilar won the 1650-yard freestyle in 17 minutes, 16.19 seconds, which set a new pool record by more than 15 seconds at the Reese Aquatic Center. It was also a new top-10 time for the true freshman, ranking ninth overall. Senior Mackenzie Mergel pushed Aguilar in the event before she took second (17:36.21).
The Lancers’ highest-scoring event on the day was the 200 individual medley. Isabella Rhodes won in 2:08.64, while Lauren McKenna took second 2:08.92 and Rebeca Oviedo finished fourth (2:11.98).
Savannah Uhlir posted two new career bests on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. Her score of 269.40 points was good for second place and ranked her fourth in CBU history on the 3-meter, while her score of 246.85 on the 1-meter placed her fifth and is seventh all-time for the program.
Kiree Lowe took fourth place on both boards, with scores of 249.05 on 1-meter and 264.95 on 3-meter. She hit a new career-best on 3-meter to build on her No. 5 standing in the Lancer record books.
Hannah Houlton and Rhodes gave CBU a one-two finish in the 100 free, with respective times of 52.32 and 52.89.
The Lancers also went one-three in the 200 butterfly and 500 free. Nicole Cienega (2:03.90) and Kyle Morrison (2:10.28) were the leaders in the 200 fly, while Cienega also took third in the 100 fly (57.59).
Oviedo (4:53.68) and Mackenzie Degn (5:09.78) were two of the top-three finishers in the 500 free. Oviedo (1:54.77) and Degn (1:55.19) also finished second and third in the 200 free.
Three swimmers finished top-four in the 50 free. Rita Smirnova and McKenzie Kelly tied for second in 24.70, while Houlton came in fourth.
Faith Brazil took second in both breaststroke events, with times of 1:05.45 in the 100 and 2:19.24 in the 200. Emma Lindquist (1:05.81) and Alexa Melara (2:19.91) took third place in the 100 and 200, respectively.
