June 26, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Six current and former members of the UNLV men's and women's swimming programs are participating in the U.S. Olympic Trials, which begins this weekend at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. The trials will run from June 29-July 6, and swimmers from all over the country will be attempting to make the US Olympic swim team, which will take 26 men and 26 women to Beijing.

Two Rebels are ranked 25th in one of their events coming into the Trials. David Seiler, a rising sophomore for the Rebels, who missed this past spring's conference championships due to a brief illness, will swim both the 100m fly, where he is ranked 60th, and the 200m fly, where he has the 25th fastest time. Former Rebel Brandon Nelms (2004-07) is also 25th in his event, the 50m free.

Sophomore John Mendoza will be competing in two events, as he is seeded 68th in the 1500m free, and is a late qualifier in the 400m free, where his time would place him around 60th. Two more former Rebels who graduated in 2007, Adrian Law and John Byers, will both be competing in the 100m fly. Law comes in ranked 39th, while Byers is seeded 64th.

On the women's side, Megan Hunt-Higgins, who just completed her senior year for UNLV, will swim in the 100m back, where she is seeded 76th.

These six Rebels will be looking to join three of their international teammates who have already claimed spots on their country's Olympic squads. Richard Hortness and Joe Bartoch will compete for Canada, while Jonas Andersson will be representing Sweden.