LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV women's swimming and diving racked up 10 top-eight and three podium finishes to hold onto second place after two days at the 2021 Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships being held respectively at Jim Reitz Pool and Air Force's Cadet Natatorium. The Rebels ended the evening with 489 points to sit just 10 points behind UNR (499 points) in first place and ahead of San Diego State (454 points) in third.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY:
In a breathtaking 50 free final with the top-three spots finishing less than .10 seconds apart, junior Kristina Schneider came away victorious with her first career MW Championship and momentarily brought the Rebels even with the Wolf Pack in a tie for first at 435 points. The individual 50 free title for Schneider also marked the first time a UNLV swimmer won the race at the MW meet since 2008 when former Rebel Megan Hunt-Higgins achieved the feat.

Aiding their Scarlet and Gray counterpart in the 50 free spree, senior Caitlyn Schreiber and Katsiaryna Afanasyeva rounded out UNLV's best individual event of the day with the final two of their squad's three top-eight finishes in the race.
 
Junior Carissa Armijo pulled to within striking distance of the second-place medal in the 500 free on the final 50 meters, coming just short in third on the Scarlet and Gray's first individual podium finish of the conference meet.
 
In addition to those individual performances, UNLV's 400 medley relay team of Afanasyeva, freshmen Calysta Bartlett and Sarah Koopmans, and Schneider topped off the Rebels' scoring on the day with their third-place finish to place a 45-point cushion between them and the reigning MW champion Aztecs.

Among improvements made in the MW competition, freshmen Ruby Howell's and Bartlett's respective top-eight finishes in the 200 IM helped UNLV surpass last year's effort in which only one Rebel swimmer scored points in the event.

THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:
*Schneider snatched the 50 free title with an NCAA 'B' cut time of 22.70, stretching just .08 seconds ahead of SDSU's second-place finisher on the final touch. With her time, Schneider catapulted into third all-time in the UNLV record book for that event.
*Meanwhile, Schreiber (23.15) finished in sixth in the speedy 50 free finale and Afanasyeva (23.31) trailed shortly behind her Scarlet and Gray teammates in eighth.
*The 400 medley relay third-place performance by Afanasyeva, Bartlett, Koopmans and Schneider came off a time of 3:40:15, as they topped their previous season best by nearly five seconds.
*The freshman tandem of Ruby Howell and Bartlett (2:04.13) led the way for UNLV in the 200 IM as they notched respective finishes of fourth and seventh. Howell's time of 2:01.06 lifted her into sixth on the Scarlet and Gray's all-time record chart.
*In the 500 free, Armijo logged a time of 4:48.99 in her third-place finish and was joined at the finishing wall by her Rebel junior counterparts Teneka Ash (4:52.24) in fourth and Julia Filippova in seventh (4:55.44). Ash took over seventh on the Rebel all-time list with her time and Filippova tallied her first career top-eight finish with her mark.
*Montse Moreno represented UNLV in the 1-meter board finals, grabbing a sixth-place finish with a score of 266.65.
*Also contributing to the Rebels' strong showing in the day's lone individual sprint race, freshman Malia Fernandez poured in a personal best time (23.22) for an 11th-place finish overall and third in the 50 free's B final. Senior Eva Kim paced the Rebels in the C final of the 50 free, taking first in the heat with a mark of 23.47.

QUOTABLE: "This was a huge day for us. The team was excellent at delivering efforts in prelims that put us in a great scoring position. I can't remember the last time we had 9 separate top-8 performers in a single session. And a huge congrats to Kitty Schneider, who brought down the house by winning the 50 Free. It was a great moment to celebrate with the UNLV fight song in our own building."- Head coach Ben Loorz

NEXT FOR THE REBELS: The Rebel women will continue the swimming portion of the MW Championships from Jim Reitz Pool Friday with prelims at  11 am (PT) and finals at 6:30 pm (PT). UNLV's divers will head into the second day of the 2021 Mountain Diving Championships hosted by Air Force at Cadet Natatorium Friday with prelims at 11 am (PT) and 2 pm (PT).
 
2021 Mountain West Women's Swimming Championships
Jim Reitz Pool at UNLV
Las Vegas, Nevada
& 2021 Mountain West Women's Diving Championships
Cadet Natatorium at Air Force
Air Force Academy, Colorado
Thursday, February 18
Second Day Results
 
Team Scoring
1. UNR - 499
2. UNLV - 489
3. San Diego State - 454
4. Wyoming - 358
5. Colorado State - 274
6. Fresno State - 268
7. Air Force - 169
8. San Jose State - 135
 
Top-Eight Finishes
50 Free: 1st place- 22.70* (Kristina Schneider)
50 Free: 6th place- 23.15 (Caitlyn Schreiber)
50 Free: 8th place- 23.31 (Katsiaryna Afanasyeva)
500 Free: 3rd place- 4:48.99 (Carissa Armijo)
500 Free: 4th place- 4:52.24 (Teneka Ash)
500 Free: 4th place- 4:55.44 (Julia Filippova)
200 IM: 4th place- 2:01.06 (Ruby Howell)
 200 IM: 4th place- 2:04.13 (Calysta Bartlett)
400 Medley Relay: 3rd place- 3:40.15 (Afanasyeva, Bartlett, Koopmans, Schneider)
1-meter board- 6th place- 266.65 (Montse Moreno)
 
^-NCAA 'A' Automatic Time
*-NCAA 'B' Provisional Time
~-NCAA Diving Zone Qualifying Score