Dec. 13, 2000

LAS VEGAS - Friday marks the beginning of UNLV's 17th Annual Winter Invite. Forty-six club teams will compete alongside the Rebels in the four-day event.

Highlighting the event will be the participation of five Olympians, including two medallists. Kaitlin Sandeno, who swam for the United States in the 2000 Olympics, won a bronze medal in the 800 free. She also competed in the 400 IM and the 200 fly. She will be swimming for the NGSV club team from California.

Aaron Peirsol, who will swim for the Nova Aquatics club team, also competed in the 2000 Olympics and won the silver medal in the 200 back.

The participation of UNLV's three Olympians - Lorena Diaconescu, Jacint Simon and Andrew Livingston - brings the total count of Olympic competitors to five.

Other prominent competitors include Ashley Whitney, who is a U.S. National Team member. She will swim for the Terrapins Club.

UNLV alumnus and Olympic Trial finalist Bobby Middleton will also be swimming unattached for the Rebel squad.

"This is a great meet," said UNLV head coach Jim Reitz. "The competition is stellar. We have post-graduates and Olympians in almost every event. This format gives us practice in preliminaries and finals for our rookies, freshmen and other swimmers who haven't competed at this level."

The 2000 competition will be the last for which the invite will host club teams, instead reverting back to the college-only format implemented in its inception.