Muteti, a redshirt junior from Bombolulu, Kenya, took home two individual wins and led the Lopes to a pair of relay victories. Muteti's best performance came in the 100 butterfly, in which she set a pool record (54.82 seconds) on her way to finishing first. Her second first-place finish came in the 50 freestyle, reaching the wall at 23.64. In a meet that Grand Canyon had only eight swimmers, Muteti also anchored the top-finishing 200 medley relay (1:43.96). Lastly, she helped carry the 400 free relay team to a first-place finish (3:28.52), leading off in a race that GCU needed to win to earn the tie against WAC rival, California Baptist.
McKnight, a freshman from Kent, Wash., tallied first-place finishes in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. She scored 305.17 points on the 1-meter board to take the top spot. McKnight also turned in the top score on the 3-meter board, finishing with a finals score of 278.10.
OTHER ATHLETES OF THE WEEK NOMINEES
Other men's swimmer nominees: California Baptist's Scott Tolman set a pool record in the 200 breaststroke (1:59.92) and also picked up a first-place finish in the 100 breast (55.43).
Other men's diver nominees: Grand Canyon's Thomas Wesche landed a pair of second-place dives, finishing with a score of 279.30 on the 1-meter board and 287.62 at the 3-meter height.
Other women's swimmer nominees: California Baptist's Buse Topcu earned the top spot in both the 500 and 1000 freestyle swims, finishing in 4:57.47 and 10:18.72, respectively.
Other women's diver nominees: California Baptist's Madeline Wiese took home second at the 1-meter height (266.47) and third on the 3-meter board (238.35).
CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
The California Baptist swim and dive teams traveled to Phoenix to take on WAC counterpart Grand Canyon. On the men's side, the squad of Jacob Leahy, Scott Tolman, Josh Walters and Brandon Schuster started off the day with a pool record and a win in the 200 medley relay, finishing in 1:28.72. Tolman added to the record book as he took down the pool record in the 200 breast (1:59.92) to notch another first-place finish. Robert Mosely got in on the action as well, setting a pool record in the 200 back (1:48.41) to give him an individual win. Moseley also added a win in the 200 individual medley (1:49.96).
The Lancer men's divers were led by Evan Honer as he collected wins in both the 1-meter (312.22) and 3-meter (305.02). Tyler Stevens also performed well as he landed in third on the 3-meter board, scoring 268.87 points.
The CBU women also competed against Grand Canyon, earning a tie as both teams managed 145 points. Bose Topcu and Faith Brazil each collected a pair of wins to lead the way for the Lancers. Topcu tallied wins in the the 500 free (4:57.47) and 1000 free (10:18.72). Brazil picked up her wins in the 100 breast (1:04.43) and 200 breast (2:20.15). Kylie Morrison also pitched in with an individual win in the 200 butterfly (2:05.51). Junior Rita Smirnova also turned in a first-place finish as she took the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.31.
The women's dive team was paced by Madeline Wiese and Kiree Lowe, both of which had two top-three dives. Wiese finished second in the 1-meter (266.47) and third in the 3-meter (238.85). Meanwhile, Lowe took second on the 3-meter board (252.45) and third in the 1-meter event (257.40).
GRAND CANYON
The GCU men's swim team took down California Baptist 170-130 behind solid performances from a bevy of Lopes. Florent Janin set a pool record of his own in the 100 freestyle (43.87) and was joined by Samuel McKenzie, Omar Elsayd and Mazen Shoukry to set a second pool record in the 400 free relay (2:58.34). McKenzie also took home the top spot in the 200 free (1:37.87). Mikhail Lyubavisky swept the distance events as he took first in the 1000 free (9:30.28) and 500 free (4:30.19). Sophomore Elijah Clements picked up a win in the 100 butterfly (49.33) as he out-touched teammates Mazen Shoukry (49.38) and Alonso Carazo Barbero (49.44).
The Lopes were led by Thomas Wesche on the diving boards as he earned runner-up finishes on the 1-meter board (279.30) and 3-meter board (287.62). Issac Poole and Reece Robles followed Wesche in the 1-meter event, scoring 264.67 and 247.35, respectively.
On the women's side, Grand Canyon was only able to suit up eight swimmers and managed a tie with the Lancers. Emily Muteti led the way as she collected wins in the 50 free (23.64) and 100 butterfly (54.82), setting a pool record in the 100 fly. She was also a part of two winning relays. Most notably, she was joined by Cecelia Mayer, Robyn Edwards and Madeline Vindiola to win the 400 free relay (3:28.5) and clinch the tie with CBU. Briana Rittenbach did her part in the 100 back (56.53) to earn the individual win while Edwards turned in another win in the 200 back (2:01.69). Lastly, Junior Kristina Miletic collected a first-place finish in the 200 IM (2:06.67).
Freshman Lizzy Mcknight was the star for the Lopes diving team as she posted the top dive in both the 1-meter (305.17) and 3-meter (278.10). Both McKnight scores are NCAA zone qualifying scores. Nicole Yeakley also had a pair of top-5 dives, scoring 250.35 on the 1-meter board to take fourth and 184.95 on the 3-meter board to take fifth.