IOWA CITY, Iowa - On the strength of a new school and WAC record-setting time, the UNLV men's swimming and diving team scored 12 points to stand in a tie for 20th place after the first day of action Thursday at the 2015 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships. This year's meet, which continues on Friday before concluding on Saturday, is being held at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center on the University of Iowa campus.

Texas holds a commanding lead on the first day with 171 points, well ahead of second place California (119) and third place Florida (108). UNLV was the only non-Power Five school to score points on the first day, as the Rebels are tied with Tennessee and were .5 points behind 19th place Utah. The action continues on Friday with preliminaries beginning at 9 am (PT) and the finals at 5 pm (PT). The night finals on both Friday and Saturday will be streamed live on ESPN3.com.

In the first event of the day, the Rebels posted a time of 1:17.12 in the 200 free relay to finish in 10th place in the morning preliminaries, earning a spot in the night consolation heat. That time broke the Rebels' school and WAC record mark of 1:17.30, which was set a year ago at the national championships. UNLV then came back at night to post a time of 1:17.64 to finish in 11th place, the third-highest finish in school history in the event at the national championships. Earning Honorable Mention Relay All-American honors for the 11th place performance was junior Dillon Virva, junior Tom Paco-Pedroni, sophomore Or Sabatier and junior Henrique Machado. Junior Samuel Lameynardie was the anchor for the record-setting relay swim in the morning before Machado took the fourth spot in the night swim.

UNLV nearly had a second night swim, as Virva turned in a time of 19.39 in the 50 free preliminaries, a mark that tied him along with two other swimmers for 16th place. With just one spot available in the consolation heat between the three, a swim-off was required and Virva would come up short in his second attempt, leaving him to settle for an 18th place finish. Paco-Pedroni competed in the preliminaries as well, finishing 37th in 19.76.

The fourth swim of the day for UNLV was the 400 medley relay. The squad of Machado, freshman Boris Kulizhnikov, Virva and Paco-Pedroni would finish in 21st place with a time of 3:11.19.

UNLV will swim in four events on Friday: the 200 Medley Relay, the 100 fly (Virva), the 200 free (Paco-Pedroni) and the 100 back (Machado).

2015 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships
Campus Recreation and Wellness Center
Iowa City, Iowa

Thursday, March 26
First Day Results

Team Scoring
T-20th. UNLV - 12 points

Honorable Mention All-American status
200 Free Relay - Dillon Virva, Tom Paco-Pedroni, Or Sabatier, Henrique Machado - 11th (1:17.64)

Other UNLV swims
50 Free - Dillon Virva - 18th (19.39), Tom Paco-Pedroni - 37th (19.76)
400 Medley Relay - 21st (3:11.19) - (Henrique Machado, Boris Kulizhnikov, Dillon Virva, Tom Paco-Pedroni)

New UNLV and WAC Record Set
200 Free Relay - 1:17.12 (Dillon Virva, Tom Paco-Pedroni, Or Sabatier, Samuel Lameynardie)