REBELS WIN THREE EVENTS ON DAY TWO OF UNLV FINIS INVITATIONAL
The UNLV men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams collected three event victories and 30 top-10 finishes on the second day of the UNLV Finis Invitational Tuesday at Jim Reitz Pool.
THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:
– Starting the day’s swim events in the 200 medley relay, UNLV’s ‘A’ team of junior Averi Webb, senior Heather Gardner, freshman Lauren Palacios and senior Pilar Cohen glided to a fifth-place time of 1:41.53.
– Representing the Rebels in the 400 IM, junior Jillian Moses placed sixth (4:31.11) and sophomore Victoria Villarreal placed 11th (4:31.83).
– Sophomore Ava Olson earned a fourth-place finish in the 100 fly with a season-best time of 54.66 seconds.
– The 100 fly also saw both Cohen and Palacios swim a time of 55.89 as both placed 11th.
– Leading the Rebels in the 200 free, junior Erika Carlson placed second in a time of 1:47.69. The 200 free also saw junior Marta Klimek (1:50.18) and senior Gina Miller (1:50.21) place fourth and fifth, respectively.
– Gardner finished fifth in the 100 breast, touching the wall with a season-best time of 1:01.94. It was the eighth-fastest time in program history.
– Freshman Grace Wharton took 11th in the 100 back with a season-best time of 55.69 seconds.
– In the women’s 800 free relay, UNLV’s ‘A’ team of Carlson, Miller, Olson and Klimek finished second overall (7:20.93).
– The Rebels’ 800 free relay ‘C’ squad (7:36.72) and ‘B’ squad (7:37.88) contributed eighth-place and ninth-place performances, respectively.
– In the 1-meter prelims, senior Vika Yanovska placed fourth (245.25) and freshman Allyse Abbott placed sixth (239.90) to qualify for finals.
THE RUNDOWN – MEN:
– The Scarlet & Gray ‘A’ team of sophomore Wikus Potgieter, senior Adnan Beji, junior Ian Belflower and senior Daniel Nicusan swam a second-place time of 1:26.11 in the 200 medley relay.
– Following closely behind, the 200 medley relay ‘B’ squad of sophomore Tatsuki Inoue, senior Michael Breitbart, redshirt freshman Emil Perez and freshman Lucas Diermayr earned a seventh-place finish with a time of 1:28.70.
– Freshman Caleb Manning won the 400 IM off a season-best time of 3:55.52, edging the second-place finisher from California Baptist by just three-hundredths of a second. Additionally, redshirt sophomore Colby Raffel powered his way to a fifth-place finish in the event (4:01.00).
– Gliding his way to a second-place finish in the 100 fly, Belflower logged a season-best time of 47.67 seconds. Adding another top-10 finish in the 100 fly, Perez placed sixth overall (48.24).
– In the 200 free, freshman Kiril Stepanov swam to a second-place finish with a season-best time of 1:36.40, while senior Andrew Navarro finished eighth (1:41.36) and sophomore Amburs Barcsak 10th (1:39.04).
– In the 100 breast, Beji earned a victory after swimming a season-best time of 53.04 seconds. Providing another pair of top-10 finishes in the event, Belflower placed fourth (54.93) and Breitbart grabbed the B final heat victory to finish ninth overall (54.68).
– The Rebels had three top-5 finishes in the 100 back, with Inoue taking second with a season-best time of 47.36 seconds. Potgieter followed close behind in third (47.45) and Nicusan in fifth (48.16).
– Adding a top-10 finish in the 100 back, senior McKay Mickelson came in 10th with a season-best swim of 49.60 seconds.
– In the 3-meter event, sophomore Alex Vazquez earned a first-place score of 341.70 in prelims. Senior Dima Tereshchenko placed third (326.40) and freshman Ronan Robinson placed seventh (236.25) to all qualify for the finals.
– Topping off an eventful night, the Rebels 800 free relay ‘A’ squad of senior Cooper Kiel, Stepanov, Raffel and Perez earned a first-place finish (6:31.08).
UP NEXT: The UNLV Finis Invitational will conclude on Wednesday with swimming prelims at 9:30 a.m. PT, followed by swimming finals at 5 p.m. PT.