WAC Men’s Swimming and Diving Athletes of the Week Announced
DENVER – Wyoming's Brayden Love and Grand Canyon's Pietro Hufnagel Toscani have been named the Western Athletic Conference Men's Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively, for Nov. 18-24.
Love, a junior from Fort Leavenworth, Kan., earned bronze and set a new school record in the 200-meter butterfly as he posted the nation's 16th-fastest time (1:44.41). His times in the 200 butterfly and 100 butterfly (47.20) also set NCAA B cut times. He also posted the conference's third-fastest time in the 200 individual medley (1:48.85) as the Cowboys competed against swimmers from the likes of Missouri, Brigham Young, Drury, Oklahoma Baptist and others at the Missouri Invite.
Toscani, a senior from Sao Paulo, Brazil posted three top dives over the weekend as the Lopes competed against divers from Louisville, Purdue, Pittsburgh, Navy and McKendree. The senior earned gold in the 1-meter event with a score of 363.30. He also notched the top score at the 3-meter height with a score of 391.95. Toscani completed the sweep as he picked up another first-place finish in the platform event with a score of 293.05. All three dives mark the conference's best scores thus far in the season.
Other swimmer nominees: Air Force's Zach Nelson posted conference-best times in three events, including setting NCAA B cut times in the 100 breaststroke (53.82) and 200 breaststroke (1:57.80). Nelson's time in the 100 breaststroke also set a 2020 Olympic Trials Qualifying time... Jacob Leahy of California Baptist notched the nation's fifth-fastest time in the 50-yard backstroke while also earning three first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and two third-place finishes as the Lancers competed at the Pepperdine Winter Invite... CSU Bakersfield's Ryan Brimer posted a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:38.39)... Mazen Shoukri of Grand Canyon finished the weekend with the conference's fastest time in the 100 freestyle (43.41) while also notching the conference's third-fastest time in the 100 butterfly (47.59)... UNLV's Ogi Maric helped lead the Rebels to first-place finishes in the 200 medley, 200 freestyle and 800 freestyle relays...
Other diver nominees: Brendan Byrnes of Wyoming recorded top-seven finishes in the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform events as the Cowboys competed in the Missouri Invite.