Lopes battle in 1st night time of Big West Championships

HOUSTON – Grand Canyon opened the Big West Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships with a robust first day of finals Wednesday, positioning itself inside putting distance of the lead whereas producing lifetime-best performances, top-10 program marks and nationally qualifying swims.

In the 200-yard medley relay, GCU earned second place to Hawai’i in 1 minute, 25.16 seconds.

The Lopes’ relay of Alex Volkov, Carter Dooling, Mario Perez and Guillermo Carrey delivered a number of standout splits, significantly on the again half of the race.

Perez recorded a 20.71 cut up on the butterfly leg, a lifetime finest by .27 seconds to maneuver him to 3rd in program historical past for that cut up. Carrey anchored in 19.06, simply .17 off his lifetime finest, to offer a robust shut that secured runner-up honors in opposition to a deep convention subject.

On the 1-meter diving board, GCU certified 4 divers into the A closing.

Omar Elsayed led the Lopes with a second-place end (358.65 factors), narrowly lacking the occasion title.

Luke Struiksma positioned fifth (263.40), whereas Bryce Porter (224.10) and Braeden Rasmus (217.45) added extra workforce factors in seventh and eighth, respectively.

In the 800 freestyle relay, GCU’s quartet of Asher Havenhill, Jacob Pins, Jasu Ovaskainen and Eli Cohen completed fourth in 6:30.33.

Although the relay didn’t crack this system’s high 10, a number of particular person performances stood out. Havenhill’s cut up was simply .13 off his lifetime finest, and Pins swam sooner than his earlier lifetime finest flat-start time (1:37.32) regardless of not having an official relay cut up obtainable. Ovaskainen recorded a lifetime-best cut up of 1:36.31, enhancing from 1:37.14, whereas Cohen posted a season-best 1:37.28, almost 1.8 seconds sooner than his earlier mark.

GCU additionally used Wednesday’s time trials to supply a collection of notable performances.

Lopes junior Joe Stevenson recorded a 55.40 within the 100 breaststroke, attaining a NICB qualifying commonplace and enhancing his lifetime finest by roughly three seconds.

GCU’s Ian Herota narrowly missed breaking the 55-second barrier however nonetheless achieved a lifetime finest.

Adrian delivered a season-best 50.46 within the 100 freestyle, simply .13 off his profession mark.

Volkov swam 46.18 within the 100 butterfly, that includes a 20.97 opening 50 that set a workforce file for that cut up and left him solely .07 off the incidental NCAA lower of 46.11.

Colin Campbell posted a lifetime finest within the 100 particular person medley, whereas Alex Edquid swam 50.88, one other lifetime finest and NICB qualifier.

In dash time trials, Daniel Volkov recorded a season finest within the 50 backstroke, whereas Perez (21.22) and Carrey (21.41) posted sturdy 50 freestyle swims that met NICB qualifying requirements, regardless of narrowly lacking their lifetime bests.

Through 5 scored occasions, GCU closed Wednesday in second place within the males’s workforce standings with 118 factors, trailing Hawai’i (125) however holding a transparent edge over the remainder of the sphere.

With relay depth, diving power and breakout swims, the Lopes are positioned properly heading into Thursday’s preliminaries and finals on the CRWC Natatorium in Houston.