HOUSTON – Grand Canyon opened the Big West Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships with a strong first day of finals Wednesday, positioning itself within striking distance of the lead while 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 several standout splits, particularly on the back half of the race.
Perez recorded a 20.71 split on the butterfly leg, a lifetime best by .27 seconds to move him to third in program history for that split. Carrey anchored in 19.06, just .17 off his lifetime best, to provide a strong close that secured runner-up honors against a deep conference field.
On the 1-meter diving board, GCU qualified four divers into the A final.
Omar Elsayed led the Lopes with a second-place finish (358.65 points), narrowly missing the event title.
Luke Struiksma placed fifth (263.40), while Bryce Porter (224.10) and Braeden Rasmus (217.45) added additional team points in seventh and eighth, respectively.
In the 800 freestyle relay, GCU’s quartet of Asher Havenhill, Jacob Pins, Jasu Ovaskainen and Eli Cohen finished fourth in 6:30.33.
Although the relay did not crack the program’s top 10, several individual performances stood out. Havenhill’s split was just .13 off his lifetime best, and Pins swam faster than his previous lifetime best flat-start time (1:37.32) despite not having an official relay split available. Ovaskainen recorded a lifetime-best split of 1:36.31, improving from 1:37.14, while Cohen posted a season-best 1:37.28, nearly 1.8 seconds faster than his previous mark.
GCU also used Wednesday’s time trials to produce a series of notable performances.
Lopes junior Joe Stevenson recorded a 55.40 in the 100 breaststroke, achieving a NICB qualifying standard and improving his lifetime best by roughly three seconds.
GCU’s Ian Herota narrowly missed breaking the 55-second barrier but still achieved a lifetime best.
Adrian delivered a season-best 50.46 in the 100 freestyle, just .13 off his career mark.
Volkov swam 46.18 in the 100 butterfly, featuring a 20.97 opening 50 that set a team record for that split and left him only .07 off the incidental NCAA cut of 46.11.
Colin Campbell posted a lifetime best in the 100 individual medley, while Alex Edquid swam 50.88, another lifetime best and NICB qualifier.
In sprint time trials, Daniel Volkov recorded a season best in the 50 backstroke, while Perez (21.22) and Carrey (21.41) posted strong 50 freestyle swims that met NICB qualifying standards, despite narrowly missing their lifetime bests.
Through five scored events, GCU closed Wednesday in second place in the men’s team standings with 118 points, trailing Hawai’i (125) but holding a clear edge over the rest of the field.
With relay depth, diving strength and breakout swims, the Lopes are positioned well heading into Thursday’s preliminaries and finals at the CRWC Natatorium in Houston.
date: 2026-02-12 17:36:00
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