Jan. 21, 2006
LAS VEGAS - UNLV's men and women's swimming and diving teams each won eight out of 13 events to earn a sweep over Mountain West Conference rival Air Force on the Rebels' Senior Day on Saturday afternoon from Buchanan Natatorium. The Rebel men claimed a 143-98 victory to improve to 6-1 overall, and 4-1 in league action. The UNLV women won by a score of 132-93, and improved to 5-3, 4-2 in the MWC.
The highlight of the meet was in the showdown between the top two distance swimmers in the conference, UNLV freshman Johan Claar and Air Force junior Chris Knaute. The Rebel freshman would come out on top in both distance events, as Claar held off Knaute in the 1650 free with a swim of 15:29.74, ahead of Knaute's time of 15:33.26. Claar then just out touched Knaute in the 500 free by four-hundredths of a second, winning in a time of 4:33.64.
Also winning events for the Rebels was Devin Phillips in the 200 free (1:42.47), Brandon Nelms in the 50 free (20.64), Joe Bartoch in the 100 free (45.88), Tiger Christian in the 200 back (1:51.09), and Jonas Andersson in the 200 breast (2:06.15). UNLV also claimed wins in both the 400 medley and free relays. Christian, Andersson, Bartoch, and Nelms posted a time of 3:25.50 in the medley relay for first place, while Nelms, Claar, John Byers, and Bartoch swam the free relay to a first place time of 3:04.21.
UNLV's women actually won six of the first seven events, before exhibitioning the next four. The 400 medley relay team of Amanda Weinbrecht, Kim Bonney, Tiffany Vincent, and Katie Wronn began the meet with a time of 3:55.91 to win the event. Winning individual events for the Rebels were Lani Seaman in the 1650 free (17:39.69), Ana Dangalakova in the 200 free (1:54.79), Katie Wronn in the 50 free (23.93), Norah Vogan in the 200 IM (2:08.58), Brandy Chapman in the 1m diving (261.30), and Kim Bonney in the 200 breast (2:21.77). In the final event, Jessie Bradshaw, Wronn, Lauren Browning, and Marina Sandback teamed up to take first in the 400 free relay in 3:32.21.
UNLV will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 28 at UC Santa Barbara at 12 pm.
