Grand Canyon University took down Idaho in a women’s dual meet to close their regular season on Friday. GCU posted a 171-128 win as Iryna Glavnyk earned 3 individual wins: the 100 back (55.17), 200 back (1:59.86), and 200 IM (2:04.49). Full results can be found here.
Idaho:
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Sarah Mabee-Hall won twice, Idaho swept the top three places in the 1000 free and won both diving events but came up short in a 171-128 loss to Grand Canyon Friday afternoon.
“We knew that they were going to suit up for us and I was really impressed with how the girls responded to that,” coach Mark Sowa said. “The front end speed of the Antelopes put us in a bit of a hole but we really held our composure and battled.”
Mabee-Hall won the 500 free in 5:08.26 after setting the pace in a one-two Vandal finish in the 200 free. She won in 1:53.91 with Emily Kliewer was just behind in 1:54.90. Sowa also had praise for Cara Jernigan, who won the 200 breaststroke in 2:19.73.
“Sara was great and Cara’s breast was really good as well,” he said.
Janelle Lucas led the one-two-three finish in 3-meter diving with 251.85 points. Nikki Imanaka was second with 247.50 and Maren Seljevold was third in 239.70. Seljevold won the one-meter event with a 259.65.
“Our three divers performed great too,” Sowa said. “I think when all is equal in three weeks (at the Western Athletic Conference Championship Meet), it should be fun to see these guys again.”
Grand Canyon:
The Grand Canyon women’s swim team passed their final test in their preparation leading up to the Western Athletic Conference Championships in three weeks as they defeated Idaho 171-128 in their final dual meet of the season on Friday.
“This was a very good win for us,” head coach Steve Schaffer said after the meet. “Idaho is a good team and they gave us the opportunity for one last meet to step up and do some fast racing before we start resting for the WAC Championships.
The Lopes took home wins in 10 of the 16 events with second-place finishes in 10 events as well. They finished with 12 of the top 13 swims of the meet as ranked by CollegeSwimming.com.
‘We have been working hard, so our goal for the last two meets was to have most of our swims be within 5 percent of lifetime best times,” Schaffer added. “We got exactly what we needed out of the meet today. We are definitely on course for a very good WAC Championships.’
Iryna Glavnyk was once again spectacular as she came away with the top three individual performances of the meet as ranked by CollegeSwimming.com. Glavnyk took home event wins in the 100 Back (55.17), 200 Back (1:59.86), 200 IM (2:04.49), while also joining Katie Robertson, Rebecca Coan and Jade Howard on the winning 200 Medley relay team.
In additional to the 200 Medley relay win, Howard also contributed two individual event wins of her own as she edged out teammate Jovanna Koens in the 50 Free 23.85 to 23.99 and then cruised to a win in the 100 Free with a mark of 52.12. Howard also swam the second leg of the winning 400 Free relay with Samiha Mohsen, Estela Davis Ortiz and Koens.
Coan added two individual wins to the relay as well, taking both the 100 and 200 Fly whileVangelina Draganova won the 100 Breast and finished second in the 200 Breast.
Menna Elmidany was Grand Canyon’s top finisher in both diving events, with a runner-up finish in the 1-meter with a score of 232.28 and a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter with a mark of 226.28.
The Lopes will next hit the pool at the WAC Championships in Houston, Texas from Feb. 24 – 27, 2016 at the CRWC Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston.
Swimming news courtesy of Idaho and Grand Canyon Swimming & Diving.
