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MEN'S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: NOV. 14-NOV. 20
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.

WOMEN'S ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: NOV. 14-NOV. 20
Grand Canyon's Alyssa Christianson and Northern Arizona's Tatiana Kurach have been named Western Athletic Conference Women's Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, for Nov. 14-Nov. 20.

Christianson, a sophomore from Montrose, Colo., made the NCAA “B” cut in the 200 individual breaststroke with a time of 2:13.85 placing third in the Northwestern Tyr Invitational. She also contributed to CSCAA National Invitational Relay “A” cut times in the 200 free relay and 200 medley. Individually, Christianson posted a time of 2:03.30 in the 200 medley and 1:03.04 in the 100 breast. She then contributed times of 24.51 for 50 yards in the free relay, 1:03.59 for 100 yard breast in the medley relay, 29.37 for 50 yard breast in the medley relay, 1:54.05 for 200 yard free as the relay leadoff and 52.80 for 100 yards as the leadoff in the free relay.

Kurach, a junior from Saint Petersburg, Russia, was one of only two divers to place in the top seven in all three events at the Lumberjack Diving Invitational, featuring divers from eight schools across the Pac-12, WAC and Mountain West. Kurach finished fifth-place on one-meter with a two-round score of 573.35. She then placed seventh on three-meter with a score of 589.05. On both springboards, she concluded the weekend by posting a career-best score on platform of 215.25 to finish sixth overall.

OTHER ATHLETES OF THE WEEK NOMINEES
Other men's 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 women's swimmer nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Jayssie Haynes produced a time of 4:56.95 in the 500 free, 4:24.20 (400 medley)and helped the 400 free relay team produce a time of 3:29.58 before individually finishing with a time of 2:17.86 (200 breast) … Idaho's Leah Fisk posted the fastest time in the WAC in 100-yard freestyle (51.27), clocked a 4:56.85 in the 500-yard freestyle, 1:51.82 (200-yard freestyle), then helped Idaho post the WAC's fastest time in the 800-yard freestyle relay (7:31.82) and swam on Idaho's 200- (1:35.24) and 400-yard freestyle relay (3:28.27)… NM State's Hannah McGowan placed first in both the 200 breast (2:17.56) and 100 breast (1:02.61)… Northern Arizona's Sarah Takach swam on three relays - the 200 (1:46.14) and 400 medley (3:49.80) and 800 freestyle (7:43.76), as well as posted individual times in the 400 medley (4:22.86), 200 medley (2:04.22), 200 breast (2:18.24) and 100 breast (1:04.79).

Other men's diver nominee: UNLV's Jesse Cawley posted a score of 268.95 in the one-meter event and 320.35 in the three-meter event.

Other women's diver nominees: Idaho's Janelle Lucas posted scores of 248.50 in the one-meter board, 278.90 in the three-meter board and 269.95 on the platform… NM State's Raina Brommer scored 249.95 in the one-meter event and 210.50 in the three-meter event.

THIS WEEK IN WAC SWIMMING AND DIVING
AIR FORCE
The Air Force men's swimming and diving team placed fourth after the final day of competition at the Art Adamson Invitational in College Station, Texas on Nov. 18. Texas A&M, the host school, won the tournament with 1,338 points. Utah was second (898), LSU was third (569.5) and Air Force was fourth (423). Wrapping up their weekend with platform, all four Academy divers scored with senior Nicholas Piontek leading the Falcons by placing ninth overall. Freshman Cole Armagost was 13th, sophomore Kevin Lecours was 14th, and senior Erich Drollinger was 15th. In the 1650 freestyle, junior Collin Green earned the highest finish for the Falcons in the invitational. With a time of 15:27.28, Green placed second and achieved his NCAA B cut in the mile. Less than a second off his “B” cut, senior Garrett Glaudini placed fourth in 15:31.10. Adding to the depth of the Academy's distance swimmers, freshman Vinny Vivadelli was 11th (15:53.76), freshman Brady Moll was 13th (15:56.62), sophomore Riley Delahoyde was 15th (16:12.10), and freshman Ryan Klein was 20th (16:46.97). Senior Joey Gebhart led Air Force in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:48.29 (12th). Along with Gebhart in the ‘B' final, freshman Ben Settle finished 14th(1:49.01) and sophomore Cole McAnany was 15th (1:49.93). Freshman Brady Moll returned to finals to swim the event in 1:52.53 (27th) and freshman Daniel Keith returned in 1:56.13 (31st). The 100 freestyle proved to be another opportunity for junior Steffen Mount to add to his already successful invitational performance. Mount garnered another NCAA “B” cut, swimming 43.23 in prelims and 43.54 in finals, finishing second and tying fellow Green with the highest place at the invitational. The team's sprinting contingency also included senior Michael Hannigan placing eighth (45.56), senior Lars Knutson for 19th (45.63), and freshman Jack Ayres finishing 20th (45.75). Sophomore Zach Nelson was shy of his NCAA “B: cut in the 200 breaststroke, finishing eighth in the ‘A' final with a time of 2:00.16. Three Falcons raced in the ‘B' final, senior Derek Brecht in 2:02.07 (14th), sophomore Andrew Weiss in 2:02.79 (15th), and freshman Brendan Richichi in 2:04.47 (16th). The top performance for the Falcons in the 200 butterfly came from freshman Peter Lochmaier, earning a 10th place finish with a time of 1:48.55. Sophomore Kyle Bundesmann was 19th in 1:52.17 and freshman Vinny Vivadelli was 28th in 1:56.40. Making for an exciting closure, the Falcons were tied with the University of Hawaii going into the last event of the 3-day invitational. Air Force's ‘A' and ‘B' 400 free relays scored enough points to secure a fourth place overall finish, edging out Hawaii. The ‘A' relay, made of up of Mount, Knutson, McAnany, and Hannigan, placed third with a time of 2:57.32. The Academy's ‘B' relay was 10th overall with Orr, Gebhart, Glaudini, and Ayers swimming the race in 3:03.34.

CSU BAKERSFIELD
CSU Bakersfield's men's swimming team wrapped up their final day of the UNLV Invitational Friday with a strong finish and improved their times. This is the first time the Roadrunners are competing in the invitational hosted by UNLV, which features some of the top swimming teams on the West Coast. Kris Rogic and Noah Hultner led the team with their final swims as they placed in the top eight tonight in the finals. Freshman Kristofer Rogic qualified for the finals in the 200 back with a prelim time of 1:50.83 while Sophomore Noah Hultner qualified for the finals in the 1650 free and placed 13th with a time of 16:08.74. Kris led off the 400 free relay in one of fastest in-season times with a time of 45.26. Other events that took place to wrap up the UNLV Invitational were the 1650 free, 100 IM, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 butterfly, and 400 free relay. At least two roadrunners or more competed in each event, Justice Kramer and Benji Duenas also had a solid weekend. Ethan Trieu also finished the meet with strong backstroke swim and a relay leadoff in the 400 Free relay.

CSU Bakersfield's women's swimming team wrapped up their final day of the UNLV Invitational Friday with an even stronger finish from sophomores Alyssa Madero, Maddie Cosgrove, and Jayssie Haynes. This is the first time the Roadrunners are competing in the invitational hosted by UNLV, which features some of the top swimming teams on the West Coast. Alyssa with a third place finish and CSUB third all-time swim. Madero, the native of Las Cruces, N.M. came out on fire in this morning's preliminaries by securing the fifth top time for CSUB's All-Time top five times in the 200 back with a time of 2:03.44. However, Madero did not stop there and in the finals, she shattered her own record to move to the third top time with a time of 2:02.39. Throughout the entire invitational, Haynes has successfully set personal best and set several new top times for CSUB's All-Time top five times. Today, was no exception as she set yet another new record by moving from the third spot to the second top time in the 200 breast with a time of 2:19.22 in the preliminaries. In the finals she set another personal best with a time of 2:17.86 and just missing the top time by about one second. Maddie Cosgrove's fly was the third `Runner to record an All-Time top time for CSUB. She also had previously held the third best time and jumped to the second top time in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:03.46. The sophomore improved her time in the finals with a time of 2:02:82. Other events that took place to wrap up the UNLV Invitational were the 1650 free, 100 IM, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 butterfly, and 400 free relay.

GRAND CANYON
The Grand Canyon men's and women's swimming and diving wrapped up their record-breaking and history-making weekend at the Northwestern TYR Invitational in Evanston, Ill. and Lumberjack Diving Invitational in Flagstaff, Ariz. The men's swim team wrapped up the competition in third place while the women placed fourth, but the highlight of the historic weekend was not what place the teams finished in. Coming into this 2017-18 season and weekend's meet, waiting four years for NCAA Automatic Qualification, the Lopes had high hopes and expectations for what their team could accomplish. The Lopes capped off a record-breaking weekend, earning two NCAA “A” Cuts, 15 “B” Cuts, seven CSCAA National Invitational Relay A Cuts and 63 CSCAA National Invitational B Cuts by 25 different swimmers. The swimmers broke nine pool records at The Dellora A. and Lester J. Norris Aquatics Center and eight team records. With the Northwestern TYR Invitational being host to many talented teams from around the Midwest, head coach Steve Schaffer knew it would be a challenge for the Lopes, but was more then happy with what his team was able to accomplish. Daniel Antipov capped off an all-around impressive weekend for the Lopes, as the junior from Krasnoyarsk, Russia, finished first in the 50 yard butterfly with a time of (21.41) and a first place finish in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of (1:44.54). The men took home the 1-2-3 sweep of the 200 yard backstroke with Youssef El Kamash leading the pack with a time of 1:57.84 followed by Mantas Auruskevicius in second (2:00.70) and Asahi Nagahata in third (2:02.09). Mazen El Kamash also finished on top with a win in the 100-yard freestyle, touching the wall with a winning time of 43.93, followed by Bogdan Plavin in fourth (45.23). In the final event of the meet, the Lopes finished first in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Mark Nikolaev, Plavin, Mazen El Kamash and Antipov posted a time of 2:55.28, with Nikolaev breaking the 100-yard freestyle pool record with his lead-off split of 42.87. Sophomore Nick Benson stood out at the NAU Diving Invitational with a zone qualifying and lifetime best score of 601.10 in the 1-meter diving event which was good enough for fourth place. He also placed seventh in the 3-meter with a score of 531.80.

The women's swim team also ended the weekend on a high note. In the 100 yard individual medley, Iryna Glavnyk , with a time of comes in third (57.61), following her previous school record that Glavnyk set Sunday morning in the preliminary round of 57.31. Glavnyk also finished fourth in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:01.78 while Diana Jaruseviciute broke the Lopes' team record in the 50-yard butterfly, finishing third with a time of 24.61.Both Jaruseviciute and Glavnyk continued to contribute to the Lopes' success with a third place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay with teammates Roaia Mushily and Kenya McCray, finishing with a time of 3:27.79. Alyssa Christianson was another swimmer with a top three finish as she took third in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:13.85.

IDAHO
Janelle Lucas won the platform diving title in dominant fashion Saturday, at the final day of the Phill Hansel Invitational to help Idaho women's swimming and diving finish fourth in the team standings. Lucas, the two-time-defending Western Athletic Conference champion on platform, was the top qualifier after the preliminary round at 220.20. She turned in a masterful performance in the finals, scoring 269.95 and winning the event by 69 points. Teammates Hailey Kessler (194.80) and Maren Seljevold (182.30) added fourth- and seventh-place finishes, respectively. Emi Smith rounded out Idaho's diving quartet with a 12th-place finish on platform. Emily Kliewer led the swimming contingent, scoring in two individual events and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Kliewer took 16th in the 200-yard butterfly after clocking a career-best 2:05.19 in prelims to qualify for the B final. She also took 24th in the 100-yard freestyle. The Vandals picked up two more top-16 finishes Saturday, both coming in the 1650-yard freestyle. Brianna Lucien and Emma Schlyter finished 15th and 16th, respectively. Lucien closed with a fury to record a 17:19.56. She was under 32 seconds on all but one of her 50-yard splits and broke 31 seconds on each of her final three laps. Schlyter turned in similar splits, before a final 50 of 29.73 seconds to touch the wall in 17:20.87 in her first collegiate attempt at the mile. Idaho is finished with its competition schedule for the fall semester.

NM STATE
The New Mexico State women's swimming and diving closed out the weekend on a high note as swimming defeated Northern Arizona, 184-148, on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, the diving team fared well on day two of the Northern Arizona Diving Invite. NM State's Eliana Beaudry, Hanna McGowan, Reagan Nentwich and Ruby Rodriguez claimed the top spot in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:44.02. The team of Lauren Hazel, Hope Williams, Alina Staffeldt and Roni Houck finished second for NAU with a time of 1:44.22, followed by the team of Alix Knagg, Lauren Wood, Makena Sutherland and Aimee Hatfield with a time of 1:45.92. In the 500-yard freestyle, Monique King (4:57.52), Sam Milewski (4:59.39) and Kimmy Richter (4:59.80) finished in first, second and third, respectively for Northern Arizona. The Aggies swept the top-two positions in the 100-yard butterfly when Nentwich posted a time of 55.57, while Katherine Harston recorded a time of 57.12. Andrea Schmidt clocked a time of 57.41 to finish third. In the 200-yard IM, Sarah Takach finished in first-place with a time of 2:04.22, followed by Wood with a time of 2:06.29. Knagg secured a third-place finish with a time of 2:06.71. At the conclusion of the 50-yard freestyle, Houck finished in first for NAU with a time of 23.64, while NM State's Rodriguez placed second with a time of 24.00. Sutherland recorded a time of 24.41 to finish in third-place for the Aggies. In the 800-yard freestyle relay, NAU's Richter, King, Milewski and Hammond finished in first with a time 7:35.06, while Picabo Bender, Grace Laporte, Wegel and Knagg followed up in second for the Aggies with a time of 7:38.19. The team of Alice Hick, Niamh McDonagh, Houck and Takach finished in third with a posted time of 7:43.76. Diving coach Miranda King and the diving squad were consistent at the Northern Arizona Diving Invite during Saturday's three-meter diving event. MacKinna Hauff closed out the three-meter diving event in 13th place with a score of 270.35. Raina Brommer placed 28th after recording a score of 210.50 while Sheridan Decker posted a score of 189.10 to finish 30th. Nevada's Sharae Zheng claimed the top spot with a score of 356.35, while Arizona State's Frida Kaellgren (333.25) and Mara Aiacoboae (316.90) placed second and third, respectively.

NORTHERN ARIZONA
The Northern Arizona swimmers won four of six events to conclude their dual meet against New Mexico State, and the NAU divers again placed three in the finals of the Lumberjack Diving Invitational on Saturday. Junior Tatiana Kurach was NAU's high finisher at its home invite for the second straight day, placing seventh overall on 3-meter with a two-round score of 589.05. After a preliminary score of 284.25 had her in eighth after the first round, Kurach improved to seventh by posting a finals score of 304.80. She was one of three Lumberjacks to qualify for the finals with junior Raquel Gonzales next in eighth place. Gonzales, who missed Friday's 1-meter competition with an injury, returned to the lineup and posted an impressive score of 579.70. Meanwhile, freshman Jenny Cheetham made her second consecutive finals and finished in 12th with a score of 527.15. Junior Christina Torrente narrowly missed giving NAU a fourth diver in the finals by placing 14th - a mere two points outside the top 12 finalists. Junior Olivia Payne and freshman Katie Conn also placed 25th and 27th respectively in the 3-meter prelims. The NAU swimmers dropped their first dual meet of the season, 184-148, to New Mexico State at the conclusion of a two-day meet. Despite the overall loss, NAU posted victories in four of the six events in Saturday's third and final session. In addition to four event wins, NAU set three pool records at the NMSU Swimming and Diving Complex, upping its weekend total to seven records. Redshirt junior Monique King set her second pool record of the weekend by winning the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:57.52. Combined with freshman Sam Milewski and senior Kimmy Richter, the trio posted their third one-two-three sweep of the weekend after doing so in the 200 and mile freestyles on Friday. In all, NAU had five of the top six finishers in the event with senior Claire Hammond and sophomore Erin Spielman placing fifth and sixth respectively. The Lumberjacks won the final three events of the day, starting with junior Sarah Takach in the 200 individual medley. Her time of 2:04.22 clinched her second event win of the two-day dual, completing an exceptional individual weekend. Senior Roni Houck then won the 50 free with a pool record time of 23.64. Richter, King, Milewski and Hammond wrapped up the meet with another pool record in the 800 free relay, clocking a winning time of 7:35.06. NAU also placed second in the 200 medley relay in Saturday's opening event and junior Andrea Schmidt was the Lumberjacks' top finisher in the 100 butterfly in third overall.

Placing three in the top 11 in their first season appearance on platform, the Northern Arizona divers concluded the Lumberjack Diving Invitational on a high note on Sunday. Junior Tatiana Kurach posted the team's highest finish in sixth, giving her three top seven finishes throughout the weekend invite featuring seven other schools from the Pac-12, Mountain West and WAC. Kurach led the Lumberjacks for the third consecutive day, and in the process recorded a new career-best platform score of 215.25. She finished less than three and a half points out of fourth place. Juniors Raquel Gonzales and Christina Torrente followed in 10th and 11th respectively. Gonzales and Torrente notched scores of 206.00 and 204.00 respectively, while junior Olivia Payne tallied a career-best score of 193.40 to place 17th. Meanwhile, NAU's two freshmen - Jenny Cheetham and Katie Conn - not only competed on platform for the first time as Lumberjacks, but for the first times ever. Cheetham placed 21st and totaled a score of 169.10 and Conn was three spots back in 24th with a score of 147.90.

NORTHERN COLORADO
Northern Colorado finished up competition on Saturday after three days in the pool at the University of Houston with an eighth place finish in a strong 10-team field. Day three saw two more school records fall by the wayside. In the 200 back, Ioanna Sacha continued her impressive freshman campaign by breaking the school record twice. First in the prelims, she touched the wall in 1:58.62 to shatter the previous school record time. Then in the group A final she bested the old record again by finishing in 1:59.65 which also gave her a sixth place finish in the top grouping. The team of Valeria Mihhailova, Petra Kis, Jessica Sanford and Emily Hamel rewrote the record book once again during the 400 free relay with a time of 3:26.84. That swim placed them eighth during the final. In platform diving, Allyson Wood delivered her best performance of the season by securing a second place finish with 200.95 points. Holli Johnson put together a strong swim in the 1650 yard free with a time of 16:51.81, which was good enough for a seventh place finish. Johnson's time was also the third fastest time in school history in 1650 free. Petra Kis won the group C final in the 200 fly in 2:02.76. Leilani Herrera was the top UNC finisher in the 200 breast with a time of 2:19.64 placing her fifth in the group B final.

UNLV
The UNLV men's swimming and diving team team closed out action at the UNLV Invitational, a three-day meet held at the Jim Reitz Pool, on Saturday night. The Rebels finished third (637 points) in the standings, behind UCSB and Pacific. Freshman Brad Gonzalez took the 1650 free with easy, touching the wall in a time of 15:09.62, which would rank as the eighth fastest time in the nation coming into Saturday. His 1000 time of 8:59.42 is a new school record, while his overall 1650 time is the third fastest on the UNLV record books. Sergini Marten was the top finisher in the 100 IM for UNLV, touching the wall in 52.22 for seventh place. James Piotrowski was seventh in the 200 back (1:50.53). Forrest Beesley led the Rebels in the 100 free, placing fifth in 44.64. Francois Van Wynsberge was the 200 breast winner, thanks to a first-place time of 2:00.07. Avi Cohen turned in a fifth-place swim in a time of 1:49.06 in the 200 fly. UNLV's 400 free relay squad of Or Sabatier, Dylan Tarazona, Mark Theall and Beesley finished third in 2:57.39.

WYOMING
Wyoming men's swim and dive team finished third after the final day of action at the Mizzou Invite inside the Mizzou Aquatic Center. The Cowboys tallied 671.50 points, trailing Missouri and Drury. The third day of competition was highlighted by sophomore Scotia Mullin's dominating win on the platform in his first event of the 2017-18 season. Mullin returned from an injury that kept him out of competition thus far this season, and put forward an impressive performance. He scored a 420.40 in prelims, the top mark, and then a 398.50 in finals to place first by 63 points ahead of the second-place diver. The Cowboys placed three swimmers in the top eight in both the 200 butterfly and 1,650 freestyle. Junior Jack Herronplaced second (1:44.54), senior Wade Nelson placed fifth (1:48.38) and senior Jacob Porter placed eighth (1:49.93) in the 200 fly. All three were personal season-best times. Senior Eric Oleson led the Pokes in the 1,650 freestyle, placing fourth (15:43.13), while sophomore Jacob Harlan finished sixth (15:55.01) and junior Kyle Moore finished seventh (16:05.96).

WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2018 WAC Swimming and Diving Championship returns to Houston, Texas. Last year Air Force won its second straight WAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championship while Northern Arizona took home the women's crown for the fourth straight year.