2025 Golden Grizzly Classic
- December 3-6, 2025
- OU Aquatic Center, Rochester, MI
- SCY (25 yards)
- Participating Teams: Oakland, Wayne State, Dartmouth, Grand Canyon, Eastern Michigan (women)
- Day 1 Results
- Day 2 Results
- Day 3 Results
- “Golden Grizzly Classic” on Meet Mobile
Women’s Team Scores After Day 3:
- Dartmouth – 1,336
- Oakland – 1,244
- Grand Canyon – 1,183
- Eastern Michigan – 1,053
- Wayne State – 522
Men’s Team Scores After Day 3:
- Dartmouth – 1,460
- Grand Canyon – 1,419
- Oakland – 1,212.5
- Wayne State – 858.5
Grand Canyon’s Alex Volkov posted an NCAA Qualifying Standard in the 100 backstroke twice but the Dartmouth men (and women) held onto the leads after day 3 of the 2025 Golden Grizzly Classic.
The 23-year-old senior from Israel Volkov didn’t race in the finals session on Friday until the last two events, but he made a big impact on a quick turnaround.
First, he won the 100 back in 46.21, which cleared the field by over a second and dipped under the NCAA Qualifying Standard of 46.29. Then, one race later, he led off Grand Canyon’s winning, and pool record crushing, 400 medley relay in 45.90. He combined with Carter Dooling (52.33), Mario Perez (46.43), and Guillermo Carrey (42.89) to finish in 3:07.55, which cleared the old Pool Record of 3:10.42 done in 2016.
That swim makes Volkov the second-fastest swimmer in school history, behind only All-American Mark Nikolaev, who holds the school record in 44.33.
For Volkov, he would need to repeat those times at the Big West Championships in February in the final, and win that final, to earn an NCAA invite, or get down to a 52-low to win. Winning the Big West became much easier when Remi Fabiani from Cal Baptist, the defending champion, transferred to Arizona State (and CBU wound up in the MPSF anyway in a big conference realignment out west).
Volkov is the fastest in the conference this season now by 1.32 seconds.
Dartmouth maintained a lead on the men’s side in spite of only one event win of the day, in the 400 IM. There, sophomore Jacob Turner swam 3:47.78 to win by four-and-a-half seconds ahead of his fellow Big Green sophomore teammate David Gal (3:52.33).
While that wasn’t a best time for Turner, it was still a positive sign being three seconds faster than he was mid-season last year, which was en route to a 5th place finish at the Ivy League Championships (3:46.27).
Turner’s swim was also a Pool Record, which had stood since 2005.
The 400 IM was representative of the depth that carried Dartmouth to the top of the men’s table on Saturday. They had four swimmers in the A-Final, including three of the top four.
But at the top end, the wins were spread around. That included a tie in the men’s 200 free between Mario Perez of Grand Canyon and Joey Countryman of Oakland in matching 1:36.42s. While Perez has been faster, that swim was more than a second drop for Countryman.
That swim was Perez’s second of the day; he opened the session with a win in the 100 fly in 47.15. That was a best time by about half-a-second, more representative of his form than his time on the back-half of the double. He finished the session strong with the aforementioned 46.43 fly split on the winning 400 medley relay.
Oakland snagged another win in the 100 breaststroke, when Alex Lakin touched in 53.59, holding off a late charge from Grand Canyon’s Carter Dooling (53.77).
On the women’s side, the top two teams from Dartmouth and Grand Canyon alternated wins for most of the meet. The Big Green kicked the session off with a 53.95 win in the 100 fly from freshman Sena Bozkurt. That’s her first time under 54 seconds after coming to Dartmouth with a 54.16 from high school.
She now moves up to 2nd in the school’s all-time rankings behind Jamie Legh, who was 4th on Friday in 55.76.
Dartmouth later got a dominant win in the 200 free from Carinn Bethea in 1:48.57, the only swimmer under 1:50.
Grand Canyon’s women picked up three wins on Friday. Elisa Corradi won the 400 IM in 4:21.67, which is a season and lifetime best by about a tenth – she has already been a very fast 4:21.76 a month ago in an early November quint meet. She is finishing her college career with a vigor in this event. She was slower as a sophomore and junior than she was as a freshman in 2023 at NAIA school Cumberlands before transferring to Grand Canyon.
Beth Young won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.75 ahead of Eastern Michigan’s Nina LaRosa (1:01.53). That shaves .01 seconds off Young’s previous best time done to win the WAC title last year. She faces a much steeper field in the Mountain West this season, which includes Fresno State’s three swimmers under 1 minute already. Young now ranks 6th in the conference this season.
Young then combined with Marta Guasp (55.77), her own 1:01.27 split, Paula Martinez (53.69), and Sara Mose (50.40) to win the 400 medley relay in 3:41.13. They overcame a 49.58 split from Bethea on the freestyle anchor leg for Dartmouth, which placed 2nd in 3:44.14.
The other win of the day went to Oakland freshman Lydia Soldatke, who led the 100 back in 53.56, which shaved .01 seconds off her best from a dual meet versus Eastern Michigan two weeks ago. She has already swum the four best times of her career this season.
