LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's and women's swimming team made a splash in their season-opening meet Wednesday with a sweep over Cal Baptist at the Jim Reitz Pool. To begin the day, the Rebel women won by a margin of 141-100, while the men's closed out the day by a score of 141-116.
REBELS OF THE DAY:
Women- Blanka Bokros won the 200 fly and was on the first-place 200 medley relay.
Men- Vuk Celic claimed both the 1000 free and the 200 back, while Richard Szilagyi was first in both the 100 back, swam on the first-place 200 free and medley relays and posted the day's fastest 100 free mark.
THE RUNDOWN - WOMEN:
*In the first event of the day, the freshman Bokros joined Kate Afanasyeva, freshman Tosia Iwanowska and senior Caitlyn Schreiber for the top spot in the 200 medley relay (1:44.12) as part of a 1-2-3 finish for UNLV's A, B, and C units, respectively.
*Bokros made her debut in fashion for the Rebel women, as in addition to her 200 fly (2:00.85) and relay wins. She also posted the day's top time in the 100 fly as she swam a time of 55.94.
*Junior Teneka Ash (10:12.65) kept the momentum going with another Scarlet and Gray first-place finish in the 1000 freestyle, clocking the MW's current top time and eighth all-time fastest mark at UNLV in the process.
*Junior Julia Filippova (1:53.01) then headlined another 1-2-3 Rebel women finish in the 200 free, as senior Lauren Smith claimed second place (1:53.11) and junior Kristina Schneider third (1:54.34).
*Afanasyeva added on to the UNLV string of individual victories in the 100 back with a time of 56.07 in a race that also saw junior Kacey Kiuchi (57.52) and Lindsay Swail (58.45) round out yet another 1-2-3 Rebel finish.
*In the 50 free, senior Caitlyn Schreiber touched first after swimming a time of 23.45 seconds.
*The first-place trend continued in the 100 free as senior Camryn Wheals (51.83), Filippova (52.50) and Schneider (52.73) placed first, second and third, respectively. It was Wheals' first victory wearing a UNLV cap.
*Kiuchi (2:03.65), junior Filio Raftopoulou (2:05.72) and Swail (2:08.56) followed suit in the 200 back, locking up the respective first, second and third places for the Rebel women in that event.
*Also enjoying success in their UNLV debut, freshman Ruby Howell touched first in the 200 breast (2:20.90) and was joined in the top-3 by Iwanowska's (2:23.96) third-place finish.
*Iwanowska (1:04.7) and Howell (1:05.78) also finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 breast.
*Junior Gabby Lizzul came in right behind Bokros in the 200 fly, finishing in second (2:08.9).
*Juniors Teneka Ash (5:01.36) and Carissa Armijo (5:09.57) rounded out a lengthy list of top-3 finishes by the Rebels, as they placed second and third in the 500 free, respectively.lion.
THE RUNDOWN - MEN:
*Kicking things off in the men's competition, UNLV's 'A' squad consisting of senior Richard Szilagyi, junior Jack Binder, senior Bryan Chavez and freshman Reece Hemmens touched first with a time of 1:29.30 in the 200 medley relay, 0.42 seconds ahead of the Lancer 'A' relay team.
*Hemmens, who anchored the 200 medley relay, was the only sub-20 second split on the afternoon as he anchored the squad's victory in the event.
*The Rebel men then won the 1000 free in convincing fashion with a 1-2 punch by Celic's (9:24.62) victory and Cam Castro's (9:48.73) second-place finish.
*Sophomore Christopher Mykkanen added another UNLV win in the 200 free with a time of 1:39.68.
*In the 100 back, Szilagyi gave the Scarlet and Gray a sweep in the men's backstroke events with his own victory after swimming a time of 50.13. He would also add the day's fastest time in the 100 free, touching the wall in 45.53.
*Junior Michale Klauss placed first in the 200 fly for the Rebels, touching the wall with a time of 1:52.44.
*Hemmens (20.78) capped off another UNLV first-place finish among all UNLV's men's and women's newcomers, finishing the 50 free with the only sub-21 second time of the day.
*Sophomore Steven Butler opened his season with a pair of top-three finishes on the day for the Rebels, highlighted by a 100 free victory (45.87) and third-place finish in the 50 free (21.27).
*Following their Scarlet and Gray teammate in the 100 free, Chavez (46.35) and Hemmens (46.69) touched the wall right after Butler for second and third.
*Joining in on the Rebel victory laps, sophomore Cam Castro (4:35.8) secured a win in the 500 free and was closely followed in the race by Mykkanen (4:37.80).
*UNLV's opening-meet success was capped off in the 200 free relay, as Szilagyi, Butler, Hemmens and senior Sean Gage combined for a win with a time of 1:22.30.
*The Rebel 200 free 'B' squad (Mykkanen, Binder, sophomore Jacob Keller and Esteban Perez Del Rio) touched a few moments after the 'A' team and recorded a second-place finish (1:23.78).
*In a tightly contested 200 breast race, juniors Ivan Zukov (2:03.64) and Binder (2:04.97) battled wall-to-wall with the Lancers' victor Eric Tolman for respective second-place and third-place finishes.
QUOTABLE: "Today was great. We are so grateful to be racing again, and to have the opportunity to test ourselves against a worthy opponent. We want to thank Cal Baptist for making the trip to Las Vegas during these challenging times, and of course we thank UNLV Athletics for facilitating a successful competition. The training and performing trajectory of this season looks quite different from previous years, and despite a successful outcome today, I'd say we were shown a lot of areas where we can improve as we move toward more meets come January." -Head coach Ben Loorz
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