LOS ANGELES (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV men's and women's swimming teams wrapped up its season-opening meet with top-5 finishes across 11 events Saturday to place second overall at the USC Invitational at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

The Rebels compiled a combined score of 1,233.5 points, finishing behind host USC's No. 17 women's and No. 23 men's squads in first (1,741.5 points) and ahead of third-place TCU (1,098 points) and fourth-place UC San Diego (982 points).

REBELS OF THE MEET:

Women
*Senior Gabby Lizzul put forth a weekend of lifetime bests in every event, capping her meet with the second fastest 200 fly (1:59.66) and ninth best 400 IM (4:20.61) times in UNLV history. Her marks in those events, as well as her 500 free on opening day, catapulted her to the top of the Mountain West top-times list on the year.
*The Rebels' super senior Kate Afanasyeva had just the second-ever sub-53 second time by a Rebel in the 100 back with her NCAA 'B' cut (52.98) on the meet's opening day.
*In the start to her sophomore campaign, Calysta Bartlett moved atop the MW in the 200 breast with a new personal best (2:13.98) and slid into second in the conference for the 100 breast (1:02.27) at the two-day invite.

Men
*Junior Panos Bolanos took the WAC lead and tallied NCAA 'B' cuts in his two events over the weekend, capping it off with a victory in the 200 back (1:44.01) for UNLV's only first-place finish at the meet.
*Making his Rebel debut, freshman Adnan Beji posted a pair of WAC-leading times on the way to a second-place finish in the 200 breast with an NCAA 'B' cut (1:57.65) and fifth place in the 100 breast (54.37). Each of those marks propped the newcomer onto the program's all-time top-10 times chart, as he took over seventh in the 200 breast and 10th in the 100 breast.
*The Scarlet and Gray leader in the individual medleys, freshman Dominik Bujak followed up his 200 IM debut with a second-place finish in the 400 IM (3:50.58) with an NCAA 'B' cut and the third fastest time in program history.
*In the 1650, junior Cam Castro (15:16.14) and sophomore Cooper Kiel (15:25.39) rounded out the Rebels' top performer list after tacking on their own pair of NCAA 'B' cuts and placing third and fifth in the event, respectively. Additionally, Kiel's time, meanwhile, gave him possession of 10th place on the Scarlet and Gray's all-time record list.

THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:
*Lizzul placed top-5 in her two individual events during the final sessions of the invitational, taking third in the 200 fly and fourth in the 400 IM.
*Joining Lizzul among top-5 finishers, Bartlett touched fourth in the 200 fly during Saturday's afternoon session.
*Another new time in the UNLV record books came in the 100 fly via sophomore Blanka Bokros' fourth-place finish with the seventh best time (54.24) in school history. Freshman Cameron Mykkanen also solidified her spot on that list with the program's ninth fastest 100 fly time (54.80) to finish in fifth place.
*Moving to the distance events, senior Teneka Ash put together a strong performance in her season debut in the 1650 free with a third-place finish (16:56.71).
*In the first relay of the day, UNLV's top squad of Afanasyeva, sophomore Malia Fernandez, seniors Ava Haase and Kristina Schneider finished fourth (1:33.28) in the 200 free competition.
*The Rebels' 'A' team in the 200 medley relay, comprising Afanasyeva, Bartlett, Bokros and Schneider, logged a time of 1:40.93 to place fifth.
*Closing the relays for the meet, Afanasyeva, Fernandez, Haase and Schneider came together once again for a third-place finish (3:23.90) in the 400 free relay.
 
THE RUNDOWN – MEN:
*Junior Christopher Mykkanen concluded his stellar performances with his second top-5 finish of the meet, finishing fourth in the 200 free with a time of 1:37.37.
*Adding to Bartlett's and Beji's success in the breaststroke, freshman senior Ivan Zhukau came in fifth in the 200 breast with a time of 1:59.13.
*Pacing the Rebels for the 200 fly, senior Michael Klauss swam a time of 1:48.33 to take fifth.
*The opening relay of the day for UNLV's 'A' quartet of senior Richard Szilagyi, sophomore George Ratiu, Mykkanen and senior Reece Hemmens ended with a third-place finish (1:20.49) in the 200 free relay.
*Later in the afternoon, the Rebel 'A' squad of Bolanos, Beji, Ratiu and Hemmens (1:27.89) joined forces to come in second in the 200 medley relay.
*To wrap up their event participation in Southern California, the Rebels put together a team of Ratiu, Szilagyi, Mykkanen, and senior Bryan Chavez (2:57.68) that  took fourth in the 400 free relay.

QUOTABLE: "We always love coming to the USC Invite, and the competition this year was particularly high level. Both TCU and UC San Diego pushed us hard, and our team did well to come out on top against those two schools. And of course it's great to go against top-25 programs like USC's. This is a comparable level of competition to what we will face in November when we head to Tennessee, and our team did a nice job stepping up. We had lots of best times and some NCAA 'B' cuts. We certainly have a lot to work on, but with this meet I now have a much better sense of how the team's preparation is coming along." -Head coach Ben Loorz

NEXT UP: UNLV will return to the Golden State next week when it heads to Riverside to race against WAC-foe California Baptist on Saturday, Oct. 23.