Hannah Cox Wins Three Events As Arizona Sweeps GCU In Season Opener

Arizona vs Grand Canyon

• Saturday, October 13, 2018
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Edward J. Reese Aquatic Center
• Arizona Press Release
• Grand Canyon Press Release
• Meet Results

The University of Arizona opened their season on the road on Saturday against GCU, winning both the men’s and women’s meets in convincing fashion. The Wildcat women won all 16 events on the schedule for a final winning score of 204-80, while the men had a bit of a closer battle on their hands but still emerged comfortably by a final tally of 172-125 over the Antelopes.

Women’s Meet

Arizona 204, Grand Canyon 80

Arizona junior Hannah Cox stole the show on the women’s side with three individual victories, while four more Wildcats had two wins apiece.

Cox won the first individual event of the meet in the 1000 freestyle, clocking 10:11.27 to top junior teammate Ayumi Macias (10:20.95), and then was back in the water shortly after to win the 200 free in a tight race with freshman Monica Gumina, edging her teammate at the touch by a tenth in 1:50.85 to Gumina’s 1:50.96.

Cox won her third event of the dual a bit later in the session, taking the 500 free in 4:56.31 over Macias (5:03.91) and last season’s 3rd place finisher at NCAAs Kirsten Jacobsen (5:11.12).

In addition to her runner-up finish in the 200 free, Gumina won both the 50 (23.76) and 100 free (51.90), with teammates Ashley Sutherland (23.86, 52.08) and Katrina Konopka (23.94, 52.25) finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively in both.

Senior Mackenzie Rumrill had two wins in the 100 (55.18) and 200 fly (2:03.81), junior Mallory Korenwinder swept the 100 (1:04.52) and 200 breast (2:22.18), while Delaney Schnell won both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.

Also winning for Arizona was freshman Aria Bernal in the 100 back (56.03), senior Daniela Georges in the 200 back (2:04.37), and senior Mik Ranslem in the 200 IM (2:05.21). Ranslem also had a pair of 2nd place finishes in the 100 and 200 fly, while Daniels was the runner-up in the 100 back and Rumrill took 2nd to Ranslem in the 200 IM.

In the relays, Bernal (26.50), Korenwinder (29.90), Rumrill (24.50) and Konopka (23.08) combined to win the 200 medley by over two seconds in 1:43.98, while Cox (53.12), Gumina (51.98), Sutherland (51.80) and Konopka (52.12) took the 400 free in 3:29.02.

For Grand Canyon, sophomore Marina McInelly was their top performer with a pair of runner-up finishes in the 100 and 200 breast, while freshmen Hannah Barker and Robyn Edwards had a strong showing in the 200 back where they took 2nd and 3rd.

Men’s Meet

Arizona 172, Grand Canyon 125

The men’s meet was much closer, with the two teams trading victories back and forth as it went on before Arizona’s depth ultimately gave them a comfortable win. The Wildcats won nine events to Grand Canyon’s seven.

Highlighting Arizona’s win was Brooks Fail, Noah Reid and Sam Iida, who all had two individual wins.

Fail, a sophomore who qualified for NCAAs in his freshman year with a last-chance swim in the 500 free, won both the 500 (4:32.44) and 1000 free (9:23.88), while also coming just over a second off his PB in the 200 IM where he took 4th to teammates Iida, Isaac Stump and Aldan Johnston.

Iida, a sophomore, won that 200 IM in 1:52.24, and also took the 200 breast in 2:04.25 over senior teammate Matt Salerno, and was also 2nd to Salerno (57.60) in the 100 breast in 57.94.

Reid, a junior, won both the 100 (45.99) and 200 free (1:40.68), with Johnston placing 2nd in the 200 in 1:41.51.

Junior Brendan Meyer was their other individual winner in the 200 fly (1:48.20), and diver Eric Correa won the 3-meter for the Wildcats with a score of 311.25.

For the Antelopes, senior Mark Nikolaev had two wins in the 100 (48.14) and 200 back (1:49.17), and was also key on both of their winning relays.

In the 200 medley Nikolaev gave Grand Canyon an advantage they would never relinquish on the lead-off in 22.36, as freshman Samuel McKenzie (26.32), senior Daniil Antipov (21.18) and freshman Mazen Shourki (20.08) brought them in for the win in 1:29.94 over Arizona (1:31.83).

Shoukri (45.82), McKenzie (45.98) and Antipov (45.56) then gave the senior a half-second lead heading into his anchor leg in the 400 free relay, and Nikolaev threw down the field’s top leg by a wide margin in 43.55 to give the team the win by nearly three seconds in 3:00.91.

Shoukri had an individual win of his own in the 50 free, leading a 1-2-3 GCU finish in 20.60 over senior Bogdan Plavin (21.00) and fellow freshman Florent Janin (21.30), while he also took 2nd in the 100 behind Reid in 46.04, with McKenzie (46.38) and Janin (46.42) 3rd and 4th.

Antipov picked up a win over Meyer in the 100 fly, 48.77 to 49.46, while also placing 2nd to him in the 200. Junior Pietro Hufnagel Toscani had their other win in the 3-meter dive (310.65).