LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV women's swimming and diving freshman Ruby Howell was named the Freshman of the Meet, as announced by the conference Saturday night at the conclusion of the 2021 Mountain West Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by UNLV at Jim Reitz Pool and by Air Force at Cadet Natatorium. This is the second time a Rebel has received the freshman award in the last three MW Championship meets, as she follows in the footsteps of her Scarlet and Gray counterpart Carissa Armijo who took home the honor in 2019.
 
A native of Boise, Idaho, Howell finished as the leading point scorer among all freshmen and tallied the second-highest total by a Rebel swimmer during the four-day MW meet with 75 points. The Rebel newcomer starred in the individual medleys with top-5 finishes, as she touched fourth in the 200 IM (2:01.06) on the second day of the meet and turned around to place fifth in the 400 IM (4:22.36) on day three. On the concluding evening of the MW event, Howell notched a sixth-place finish in the 200 breast to contribute her final share of points toward UNLV's first MW crown since 2005.

Howell's point total placed her right behind juniors Kristina Schneider (90 points) and Teneka Ash (85.50) on UNLV's individual points leaderboard, with the former coming in third and latter in sixth on the MW individual point list for the MW meet.
 
NEXT FOR THE REBELS: The Rebel men also play host to postseason action this coming week when the 2021 WAC Swimming Championships take place at Jim Reitz Pool from Feb. 24-27. UNLV's men divers will make the trip down to Flagstaff, Arizona, for the WAC Diving Championships hosted by Northern Arizona.