Dec. 5, 2001

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - UNLV senior Lorena Diaconescu has been named Mountain West Conference women's swimmer of the week.

At last week's Mountain West Conference Invitational in Las Vegas, Diaconescu led the Rebels to a first place team finish overall after capturing two individual titles and anchoring the Rebels to numerous relay victories.

The Romanian native set a school and conference record in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.77), and then turned in an NCAA qualifying time of 1:46.88 in the 200-yard freestyle. The two time All-American capped off her individual performances with a win in the 100-yard freestyle, finishing the race with a conference season-best time of 50.01.

In relay action, Diaconescu anchored UNLV to victories in the 200-yard freestyle (1:36.39), 800-yard freestyle (7:31,25), 200-yard medley (1:46.43) and the 400-yard medley (3:52.27). This is her third career swimmer of the week award.

The Rebels return to competition on Jan. 4, 2002 with a dual meet against UC Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, Calif.