Official Release |
Invited Swimmers by Team |
Relays |
Qualified Divers
INDIANAPOLIS- The NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Committee has announced the participants in the 2018 NCAA Division I Championships, which will be held March 21-24 at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. There will be seven Western Athletic Conference athletes competing. The five swimmers from Grand Canyon are
Daniil Antipov,
Mazen El Kamash,
Youssef El Kamash,
Mark Nikolaev and
Bogdan Plavin, the one swimmer from UNLV is
Brad Gonzales and the one diver from Wyoming is
Scotia Mullin.
Antipov, a junior from Krasnoyarsk, Russia, was originally named the first alternate to compete individually in the 200 butterfly but later received the official invitation to compete with his time of 1:42.60. He broke his own WAC All-Time and program records during the WAC Championships last month which he set back in 2016.
Y. El Kamash, a senior from Alexandria, Egypt, was also named an alternate to compete individually in the 100 breaststroke but later received the official invitation to compete with his season best time of 52.76.
Nikolaev, a junior from Seltso, Russia, is currently ranked second in the nation with his “A†Cut performance in the 100 backstroke of 44.71 seconds. He broke his own WAC All-Time and program records which he set last year. In the same meet, he also broke his own 200 back (1:40.81) and 200 yard individual medley (1:43.60) WAC All-Time and program records. Nikolaev received the honor of WAC Men's Swimmer of the Year and will be competing in all three individual events at the championship.
Antipov, Y. El Kamash and Nikolaev teamed up with Mazen El Kamash, a senior from Alexandira, Egypt, to break the WAC All-Time and program records in the 200 and 400 medley relay with a performance of 1:24.33 and 3:07.48. The WAC All-Time record for the 200 medley relay they beat was set in 2014 by UNLY and they shaved off exactly one second. Their time was good enough to be an “A†Cut and ranked 12
th in the nation. The record they beat for the 400 medley relay was set in 2016 by Grand Canyon. The relay team qualified for both events and will be representing both Grand Canyon and the WAC later this week.
Antipov, M. El Kamash, Nikolaev and Plavin will team up again to compete in the 200 freestyle relay as they are currently ranked 24
th in the nation. Their season best of 1:18.26 was performed back in November as they qualified with the provisional standard.
Gonzales, a freshman from Cypress, Calif., broke the WAC All-Time record in the 1650 freestyle last December as he recorded a time of 14:46.31. The previous record (14:47.18) was held by Mitchell Huxhold from CSU Bakersfield since March 1, 2014. Gonzales's time was good enough to be ranked 15
th in the nation. He will also compete in the 500 free as he is seeded 47
th with a time of 4:19.44.
Mullin, a sophomore from Glasgow, Scotland, earned a spot on the platform dive event at the championship for the second year in a row after finishing in the top five at the Zone E Championships. Mullin claimed the title at the WAC Championships last month as he scored a 393.20 to defend his 2017 title. He will also compete in the 3m diving event. Mullin claimed the 3m WAC title for the first time this year as he scored 349.50 and collected the Diver of the Year honor.
ESPN3 will stream live the men's championship finals sessions Friday and Saturday. All sessions not broadcast by either ESPNU or ESPN3 will be streamed live on the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship microsites at www.gophersports.com.