Wildcat Wrap: Arizona swimming and diving opens season with win against GCU

Editor’s note: With several sports going on this fall, Wildcat Wrap serves as a weekly recap that focuses on the Arizona programs that we do not have the time to cover on a regular basis but are certainly worthy of recognition.

Arizona men’s and women’s swimming and diving opened the season this past Saturday with a sweep over Grand Canyon.

The Arizona men won their meet by a score of 204-90, while the women won 219-76.

On the men’s side, the Wildcats swept the podium in the 50, 100 and 500 free, 100 back, 100 fly and the 400 fly. On the women’s side, Arizona took the top three in the 100 and 200 free, 100 and 200 breast, 200 back, and the 400 IM.

Arizona returns to action this week with back-to-back home meets against Wisconsin and Miami on Friday and Saturday.

Cross country

Men’s and women’s cross country concluded the regular season with fourth-place finishes at the UCR Highlander Invitational in Riverside, Calif. this past Saturday.

In the men’s 8K, Ian Sanchez Lopez led the Wildcats with a second-place finish, finishing at 23:45.0. His brother, Iker Sanchez Lopez, was Arizona’s next top finisher in 16th place at 24:15.5.

In the women’s 6K, Sailor Hutton paced the way with a 14th-place finish at 20:48.0. Alisa Lyseina finished 25th with a time of 20:58.1.

Arizona returns to Riverside on Oct. 28 to compete in the Pac-12 Championships.

Women’s golf

Arizona competed in the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational in Lawrence, Kansas this week, finishing third out of 15 teams. The Wildcats shot 38-over par across two-and-a-half rounds — the final round was shortened because of weather.

Gile Bite Starkute led the UA with a 7-over, good for a tie for ninth place. Lilas Pinthier was Arizona’s next top finisher with an 8-over, which put her in a tie for 12th place.

“We had the second-best team score for the final round, and that showed our team’s resiliency,” Arizona coach Laura Ianello told Arizona Athletics. “Overcoming tough holes in difficult conditions as well as weather delays is part of the game, and I feel our team was able to grow from those situations this week.”

Arizona next competes at the Pac-12 Preview at Nanea Golf Club in Hawaii beginning Oct. 31.