March 9, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The No. 16 UNLV men's swim team will send a school-record eight swimmers to the 2011 NCAA Championships, which will be held March 24-26 at the University of Minnesota.
Three Rebels qualified individually in their events, including two that rank in the top five in the nation in their event. UNLV will also have three relays swim at the championships, the 200 and 400 medley relays and the 200 free relay.
Earning individual bids were senior Kier Maitland in the 1650 free (seeded 13th), sophomore Cody Roberts in the 100 fly (seeded fourth) and junior Andrew Morrell in the 100 breast (seeded fifth) and the 200 breast (seeded 22nd).
Making up the 200 medley relay squad will be Morrell, junior Steven Nelms, Roberts and senior David Seiler. Senior Calan Eldridge, Morrell, Roberts and Seiler comprise the 400 medley relay, while swimming the 200 free relay will be Nelms, R0berts, junior Charlie Tapp and senior Kyle Virva. The 200 free relay is ranked seventh coming into the championships, while the 200 medley relay is eighth and the 400 medley relay is seeded 11th. All of the Rebels will also be swimming in other events as well, as invited members of relays and individual events are allowed to do so if they meet provisional time standards.
UNLV is coming into the championships off a season in which it finished 9-1 in dual meets and won both the Mountain West Conference regular season and championship meet titles. The Rebels' best finish all-time at the NCAAs came in last year's meet, a tie for 21st place.
