DENVER - Grand Canyon's Mark Nikolaev and Pietro Hufnagel Toscani have been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 31-Nov. 6.
Nikolaev, a junior from Seltso, Russia, led Grand Canyon with four individual wins and contributed to two winning relays. As the relay lead off with the 100 back he finished with a time of 47.49 which was a DI B Cut time and the fastest in the WAC this season. This swim was also ranked the best swim of the meet. His individual 100 back time of 47.73 was ranked second in the meet. With those top two swims, he also added a victory in the 200 individual medley (1:52.10), 200 back (1:49.17) and 400 individual medley (4:01.35) as well as being the lead off again with a 50 back (21.66) which helped his team get first in that relay.
Hufnagel Toscani, a sophomore from Sao Paulo, Brazil, led his team with four individual first place finishes. In the two times he competed in the one-meter event he improved on his score of 296.03 to a 315.15 in the two day meet against Air Force. He also improved his score on the three-meter board going from a 311.33 to a 326.55.
Other swimmer nominees: Air Force's Steffen Mount helped his team win with first place individual finishes in the 50 free (20.52) and the 100 free (45.28) as well as helped his relay team finish first in the 200 free (1:22.12 and 400 free (3:02.43)…CSU Bakersfield's Loren Gillilan finished first in the 50 free (21.02), 100 free (46.16) and 100 fly (49.07) events… Seattle U's Greg Raper individually finished first in the 50 free (20.79) and 100 free (46.32) as well as helped his relay team win the 400 free (3:09.89).
Other diving nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Adam Estrella finished third in both the one-meter board (241.28) and three-meter event (255.75).