Feb. 20, 2000

OKLAHOMA CITY - The UNLV men's and women's swim teams both placed second in the first annual MWC Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Rebels, despite not having a diving team, challenged BYU all weekend through dominating swimming. The women finished the championships with 667.50 total points, 48 points behind the Cougars. The men ended 131 points behind and tallied 687 total points over the weekend.

In the final day of competition, UNLV posted first-place finishes in four out of seven events. Whitney Phelps swam a season best, first-place time of 2:02.30 in the 200 Butterfly. She was closely followed by fellow teammates Sabrina Ferrari (2:02.87) and Dana Penn (2:03.33) that gave the Rebels first through third finishes in the event. Jacint Simon placed first in the 200 Butterfly, posting a time of 1:47.99 and earning a B-cut to the NCAA's. Simon set a season best time in the 200-Fly and has also earned three B-cut's in three different events, the 200-Fly, 500-Free, and 200-Free. Tera Shepard claimed the victory in the grueling 1650-Free. She swam a first-place time of 17:03.26 and set a season best in the process. Lorena Diaconescu continued to dominate her events with a win in the 100-Free. She swam a 50.09, set a season best and earned her second B-cut. Andy Kapchinske won the 200-Back with a time of 1:53.39 and set a season best for UNLV. Overall, the Rebels dominated the swim events by posting first-place finishes in 20 of the 42 events.

UNLV also dominated the MWC post-season awards. Lorena Diaconescu earned MWC Women's Swimmer of the Year, Jacint Simon walked away with the Men's Swimmer of the Year award, Whitney Phelps gave UNLV a second consecutive Freshman of the Year Award, and Head Coach Jim Reitz earned his sixth career Coach of the Year Award.