Feb. 27, 2015 SAN ANTONIO, Texas (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV made its move on Friday night with a dominating performance in the back and fly events to take over the team lead at the 2015 Western Athletic Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships, held at the Palo Alto Aquatic Center. With three days gone in the meet, the Rebels currently stand with 476.5 points, six points ahead of second place Air Force (470.5), while Wyoming is third at 447.5. In fourth place in the seven-team meet is Grand Canyon with 396.5 points.
The story of the meet on Friday was the Rebels takeover of the 100 back and 100 fly, as UNLV placed an impressive four swimmers in the finals of both races. The 100 fly was won by Dillon Virva, who successfully defended his title from a year ago with a winning time of 47.06, while Henrique Machado placed fourth (47.78), freshman Avi Cohen close behind in fifth (47.81), and Balint Batka took seventh in 48.25. All four swimmers recorded NCAA 'B' provisional times. Machado's swim was the ninth fastest in UNLV history, while Cohen's ranks him 10th on the all-time list.
The 100 back was also won by a Rebel, with Machado winning his second straight title in the race with a winning time of 47.08, a NCAA 'B' time. Caio Dini would finish third for UNLV in 49.16, while Collin Baldacci took fifth (49.72) and Cohen eighth (50.31). Forrest Beesley added a 16th place finish, posting a time of 51.37 after swimming 50.76 in the morning preliminaries.
UNLV began the night placing one in the finals of the 400 IM, with Hannon Diagler finishing in 3:53.06 to place sixth. That also ranks him sixth all-time at UNLV. Matt Roe took 12th in 4:01.96. The Rebels posted a pair of top-eight finishes in the 200 free, with Tom Paco-Pedroni taking second overall, .39 seconds behind Wyoming's Adam Kalms. Samuel Lameynardie recorded a time of 1:36.84 to finish in fifth, and both swimmers would record 'B' times in the race. Joe Riggert scored in the consolation heat, taking 13th place in 1:38.75.
Boris Kulizhnikov was the top Rebel in the 100 breast, posting a 'B' time of 54.89 to place sixth. His morning swim of 54.82 tied for the seventh-best in UNLV history. Francois Van Wynseberghe was 14th, in 55.61.
The third day finished with the Rebels' third win of the night. Machado, Kulizhnikov, Virva and Paco-Pedroni gave UNLV its 13th straight 400 medley relay conference title, as the four posted a first place time of 3:09.84, the fifth-fastest time on the UNLV record books, and a 'B' time.
The four-day meet concludes on Saturday night.
2015 Western Athletic Conference Men's Swimming & Diving ChampionshipsPalo Alto Aquatic CenterSan Antonio, TexasFriday, February 27Third Day ResultsTeam Scoring1. UNLV 476.5
2. Air Force 470.53. Wyoming 447.54. Grand Canyon 396.55. Bakersfield 244.56. North Dakota 175.57. Seattle U 122Top-Eight Finishes400 IM: 6th place - Hannon Daigler (3:53.06*)
New WAC Records Set
New UNLV Records Set
^ - NCAA 'A' Automatic Time
* - NCAA 'B' Provisional Time
