The Grand Canyon University men’s swimming team today outdueled Western Athletic Conference affiliate member Air Force, 124-81, at Brophy Sports Complex in Phoenix, Ariz. It was the third duel the Antelopes have won this season, as they swept their season-opener against CSU Bakersfield and Seattle U on Oct. 19.
GCU had three athletes collect two individual wins and swept both of the relays.
“Our guys did a great job today,” said head coach Steve Schaffer. “They really stepped it up a notch to compete against a very good Air Force team. We went in with the mindset that every place mattered and that it would take a total team effort to win and the guys never lost their focus. We are making good progress and we need to because it only gets tougher. Wyoming is up next for the men’s team and Wyoming beat Air Force already this year. It will be a real test, especially since we will be at altitude in Albuquerque.”
Illya Glazunov, Iegor Lytvenok, and Stanislav Saiko each picked up two individual wins today.
Lytvenok picked up wins in the 200-back and 400-IM. He clocked in at 3:54.32 in the 400-IM, which is an NCAA B-cut time and the second-best in the WAC. He won the 200-back in a time of 1:52.33, the fifth-fastest in the conference.
Glazunov touched the wall first in the 50-free and 100-free with times of 20.63 and 44.91, respectively. Those marks are currently the second and third-fastest among WAC swimmers in 2013.
Saiko claimed the top spot in the 200-free and 500-free, touching the wall in 1:41.21 and 4:38.36 to post the fifth- and sixth-fastest times in the WAC.
The 400-medley relay team of Everton Kida, Aslan Burbayev, Ivan Nechunaev, and Mazen El Kamash posted the top time at 3:21.37, four seconds faster than the second-place squad from Air Force. That mark represents the second-fastest in the WAC this season.
Nechunaev was another individual winner for the ‘Lopes in today’s meet, posting a time of 1:51.50 in the 200-fly. His mark is the third-fastest among conference swimmers.
GCU also picked up the win in the 400-free relay behind swims from Lytvenok, El Kamash, Michael Branning, and Glazunov. The squads time of 3:02.29 is the fastest in the WAC this season.
The women competed in an intrasquad scrimmage today, with the Purple squad taking the win, 88-71, over the Black squad as they raced in a number of relays.
Both teams will be back in action on Nov. 22 when they compete for two days in Albuquerque, NM. The men will swim against Wyoming, while the women will race against Wyoming, Reno, and New Mexico at the meet. Fans can check www.gculopes.com for complete recaps and results.
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon University.
Full results, including results of the GCU Womens Intrasquad meet are available here.
Grand Canyon is certainly an up and coming school as well as a rapidly improving swim program now that they have moved up into DI and brought in some impressive new swimmers. A good warm weather option for those who want to swim outdoors year round with a program that is moving up.