Rebels Claim 2021 WAC Championship with All-Time Points Record

Saturday, February 27

Las Vegas, NV | Flagstaff, AZ

University of Nevada Las Vegas

WAC Championships (Day 4)

2021 WAC Swimming and Diving Championship

2/28/2021 12:51:00 AM | Swimming & Diving

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS DAY 4 RESULTS DAY 4 PHOTOS CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

UNLV's third WAC title completes a Rebel men's and women's sweep of their respective league trophies

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Hosting the Western Athletic Conference Championships for the first time in 26 years, UNLV men's swimming and diving claimed the 2021 WAC title Saturday night with an all-time conference record of 907 points during the four-day event held at Jim Reitz Pool. It marks the first WAC trophy for the Rebels in six years and third in program history, while also completing the Scarlet and Gray men's and women's sweeps of their respective league championships for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

The record-setting points performance topped Air Force's previous record of 864 points set last year and was enough to put them in front of this year's runner-up Falcons team (643) by 264 points.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DAY:
The Rebels once again blew the competition out of the water in the distance swims, as Vuk Celic took a commanding lead early in the 1650 free and finished 43.34 seconds ahead of any opposing team swimmers for his second individual WAC gold medal of the week. Celic came within five seconds of UNLV's program record with a NCAA 'B' cut in the race, while at the same time becoming the first Rebel to sweep the 500 free and 1650 free in a conference championship since alum Brad Gonzalez in 2018.

Feeding off Celic's dominant effort, UNLV's remaining three out of four swimmers in the race completed the sweep of the top-four spots in the race and followed suit in adding their own NCAA 'B' qualifying marks as well. Among those three, junior Cameron Castro was the next closest swimmer in second, sophomore Christopher Mykkanen finished third and freshman Cooper Kiel rounded out the Rebel contingent in fourth.

UNLV's individual title frenzy carried over to the 200 backstroke, with the Rebel sophomore Panos Bolanos repeating as WAC champion after finishing 2.07 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher from Cal Baptist with the squad's fifth NCAA 'B' cut of the evening. The successful title defense made Bolanos the third UNLV swimmer to win back-to-back conference gold medals in the 200 back, a feat last achieved by former Rebel Nick Blank in 2010.

After Bolanos' and Celics' twin victories, junior Ivan Zhukov's third-place medal in the 200 breast race moved the Rebels to within striking distance of the WAC's highest-point mark before his third-year counterpart Michal Cukanow sealed their historic outing with a silver-medal finish in the 200 fly final.

THE RUNDOWN – MEN:
*With his time, Celic (14:50.34*) moved into 10th in the NCAA on the season and second all-time in UNLV history in the 1650 free. Additionally, Castro (15:09.01*) posted a drop of over 24 seconds from his previous personal best in the long distance race and consequently placed himself at 31st in the nation.
*Also etching their name among the school's all-time top marks, Castro put his stamp on the fifth fastest time and Mykannen's (15:12.70*) time sits right behind in sixth on that chart.
*In spite of being short of his own UNLV record in the 200 free, Bolanos' (1:44.29*) first-place finish was 2.3 seconds quicker than his fastest time during the regular season. Freshman McKay Mickelson (1:47.33) fought to the final touch for a fourth-place finish, as he inched to within .61 seconds of adding another bronze to the Rebels' medal count.
*Placing the Rebels atop the WAC's record list, Cukanow (1:48.19) out-swam the top finisher in the 200 fly on the final 50 yards with a 28.45 mark to wind up taking second and notching his third career medal in the race. Meanwhile, Mickelson made another splash in the 200 fly B final, posting a win with a time of 1:48.87 as the only other UNLV scorer in the event.
*The bronze medal by Zhukov in the 200 breaststroke followed his time of 1:58.74 and was part of two top-eight finishes in the event for UNLV. Junior Sam Willstrop topped off the pair of Rebel top-eight finishers, as he took sixth with a time of 1:59.68.
*Capping off the Rebels' medal haul during the four-day meet, the quartet of freshman George Ratiu, senior Richard Szilagyi, Hemmens and senior Bryan Chavez tacked on a second-place finish with a time of 2:53.28 seconds in the 400 free relay. After a sub-42 second third leg from Hemmens, the UNLV group was just .3 seconds shy of first-place Air Force and from completing the sweep of all five relay events swam during the week.
*Senior Bryan Chavez (44.09) and Ratiu (44.11) paced the Rebels in the 100 free, recording respective fourth and fifth place finishes in a nail-biting final that saw the top-5 swimmers separated by just .50 seconds.
*Adding to UNLV's scoring record in the 100 free, junior Reece Hemmens clocked in with a time of 43.84 for the B final victory and ninth-place finish overall.
*Reaching the wall in the next two spots behind Hemmens, senior Sean Gage (44.61) and junior Casey McEuen (44.70) each posted new personal bests in the 100 free with their respective 10th-place and 11th-place finishes.
*Senior Lucas Cawley enjoyed his final career podium finish at the WAC Championships, as he placed third in the men's platform with a score of 322.25

QUOTABLE: "This was a very different meet than the women a week ago. The men took control very early in the meet, and steadily built their lead the entire weekend. This was a dominant performance, and the team's hunger was evident from the first day of the season until tonight. Vuk Celic's performance in the 1650 will certainly earn him a berth at the NCAA Championships, and we are excited about representing UNLV at Nationals next month. Led by his highly-ranked performances, the depth we displayed in the longest events – 500 and 1650 – was unprecedented at this meet. But the high point tally doesn't come from just two events, this was truly a team effort from beginning to end. I'm very grateful for these guys and the coaching staff, and their determination to work toward something special this year." -Head Coach Ben Loorz

NEXT FOR THE REBELS: The Rebels will now look forward to hosting its Last Chance Meet (LCM) on Thursday, March 4 at Jim Reitz Pool.

2021 Western Athletic Championship Swimming Championships
Jim Reitz Pool at UNLV
Las Vegas, Nevada
& 2021 Western Athletic Championship Diving Championships
Aquatics Complex at Northern Arizona
Flagstaff, Arizona
Saturday, February 27
Final Results

Team Scoring
1. UNLV – 907
2. Air Force – 643
3. Wyoming – 593.5
4. Grand Canyon – 552.5
5. Cal Baptist – 525
6. Seattle U – 163

Top-Eight Finishes
1650 free: 1st place – Vuk Celic (14:50.34*), 2nd place – Cameron Castro (15:09.01*) 3rd place – Christopher Mykkanen (15:12.70*), 4th place – Cooper Kiel (15:26.16*)
200 Back: 1st place – Panos Bolanos (1:44.29*), 4th place – McKay Mickelson (1:47.33*)
100 Free: 4th place – Bryan Chavez (44.09), 5th place – George Ratiu (44.11)
200 Breast: 3rd place – Ivan Zhukov (1:58.74), 6th place – Sam Willstrop (1:59.68)
200 fly: 2nd place – Michal Cukanow (1:48.19)
Men's Platform – 3rd place – Jesse Cawley (322.25)
400 Free Relay – 2nd place – Ratiu, Szilagyi, Hemmens, Chavez (2:53.28)

^-NCAA 'A' Automatic Time
*-NCAA 'B' Provisional Time
~-NCAA Diving Zone Qualifying Score

-UNLV-