DENVER - Grand Canyon's Mark Nikolaev and Nick Benson have been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, for Nov. 14-Nov. 20.
Nikolaev, a junior from Seltso, Russia, finished first in all seven events he competed in. His 100 Back time of 44.99 (relay lead off) is the top 100 Back time in DI so far this year and an automatic NCAA Championships Qualifying time, making him the 1st swimmer in Lopes program history to guarantee himself a spot at NCAA's. He also made the NCAA automatic standard in his individual 100 back (45.22). He then swam two NCAA “B†Cut times, which included the individual 200 back (1:42.81) and 100 free (42.87) in the relay. In the meantime, Nikolaev broke three pool records and three individual team records, which included the 100 free, 50 back, 100 back, and 200 back.
Benson, a sophomore from Maple Grove, Minn., produced a zone qualifying score and lifetime best at the Lumberjack Diving Invitational, which featured divers from schools across the Pac-12, WAC and Mountain West. He posted a two-round score of 601.10 in the one-meter event to qualify for the NCAA Zones. In the three-meter event he posted a score of 541.80 and a 202.75 on the platform.
Other swimmer nominees: Air Force's Steffen Mount individually produced three NCAA “B†cut times which included the 50 free (19.96), 100 free (43.54) and 100 fly (27.67)… CSU Bakersfield's Kris Rogic posted a time of 20.99 in the 50 free leg of the relay, 48.75 in the 100 back leg of the medley relay, 45.26 in the 100 individual free and 1:32.58 in the 200 medley relay… UNLV's Brad Gonzales qualified for the NCAA “A†automatic time in the 1650 free with a time of 15:09.62 and the “B†qualifier in the 500 free with a time of 4:22.72.
Other diving nominee: UNLV's Jesse Cawley posted a score of 268.95 in the one-meter event and 320.35 in the three-meter event.