Richard Szilagyi - Swim & Dive Senior Day
Lucas Peltier

Swimming & Diving

Rebels Close Out Senior Meet with Sweeps of Hawai'i, Wyoming

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV men's and women's swimming and diving teams came away with 12 more event wins Saturday to complete their respective double dual sweeps over Hawai'i and Wyoming on Senior Day at Jim Reitz Pool.

On the men's side, the Rebels topped the Cowboys, 223-124, and RainbowWarriors by a score of 191-148. The Scarlet and Gray's women's squad, meanwhile, won by final tallies of 216-131 over Wyoming and 176-160 over the Rainbow Wahine.

REBELS OF THE MEET:

WOMEN
*Sophomore Blanka Bokros recorded a sweep of the butterfly events her third consecutive meet with , ending her weekend with a 100 fly win behind a time of 55.56. This followed a day in which she posted the third fastest time in program history with a sub-2 minute swim (1:59.69) in her 200 fly victory.
*Senior Teneka Ash also finished with a perfect sweep of her pair of distance events for the third straight outing, coming out on top in the day's 500 free (5:00.11) after coming out on top in the 1000 free (10:15.39) in Friday's portion of the meet.
*Senior Kristina Schneider amassed a perfect 2-of-2 record herself in the two-day competition across the 100 free (50.51) and 200 free (1:51.89).

MEN
*Junior Panos Bolanos remained unbeaten in 200 back (1:46.72) this season with his seventh overall win in the event on the day to follow his first-place finish in the 100 back (49.21) in Friday's meet opener.
*Junior Cam Castro matched Ash's double event sweep of the distance swims with twin victories in the 500 free (4:30.79) and 1000 free (9:21.63).
*Sophomore George Ratiu (44.63) enjoyed his own unbeaten weekend, taking first in the 100 fly (48.95) one day removed from his 100 free win . Additionally, Ratiu contributed to the squad's winning 400 medley relay, 200 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 free relay victories.

THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:
*A 1-2-3 Scarlet and Gray sweep in the 500 free was completed alongside Ash's win by seniors Carissa Armijo (5:01.13) and Julia Filippova (5:02.46), who finished second and third, respectively.
*In the 200 back, senior Kacey Kiuchi reached the wall in second place with a time of 2:01.39 to lead the Scarlet and Gray.
*In the100 fly, super senior Kate Afanasyeva (55.88) and sophomore Sarah Koopmans (55.90) logged the respective second and third best times on the day as they exhibitioned the race.
*The Scarlet and Gray seniors held their foot on the pedal in the 200 free as Kristina Schneider provided the victory on a swim of 1:51.89.
*Senior Gabby Lizzul swam the 400 lM in a time of 4:31.87 to emerge with the fourth and final women's squad's individual victory.
*Rounding out the women's victories in the 400 free relay, UNLV's A team of Schneider, Afanasyeva, sophomore Malia Fernandez and senior Ava Haase took first with a time of 3:22.52 after a late rally. Fernandez's third leg time of 51.13 and Haase's anchor time of 49.86 secured the first-place finish.
*The Rebels 'A' quartet of Afanasyeva, sophomores Calysta Bartlett and Koopmans, and Schneider opened up the morning in the 200 medley relay, finishing second (1:42.53) only edged by the Rainbow Wahine's 'A' squad (1:41.61).
*In the diving events, sophomore Vika Yanovska led the Rebels at the meet with a sixth-place finish (217.95) in the 1-meter and seventh-place finish (232.00)  on the 3-meter springboard.

THE RUNDOWN – MEN:
*UNLV's 'A' contingency (1:28.97) of seniors Richard Szilagyi, Sam Willstrop and Reece Hemmens, and sophomore George Ratiu started the day with a 200 medley relay victory.
*Junior Cam Castro stole the senior day thunder on the men's side in the 500 free with his quick swim that was more than eight seconds ahead of the next opposing finisher from Wyoming in fourth. He was followed by his Scarlet and Gray teammates Chris Mykkanen (4:36.85) and Andrew Navarro 4:36.88) for the 1-2-3 sweep following the event's two heats.
*Senior Richard Szilagyi posted a strong final 25 yards for a come-from-behind win in the 50 free on his time of 20.66.
*Although their times didn't count toward the official team score, Hemmens (20.89), Willstrop (21.68) and senior Michael Klauss (22.35) also added strong times in the 50 free.
*Along with Bolanos' stellar swim in the 200, sophomore McKay Mickelson exhibitioned the race and had the day's second-fastest 200 back time (1:51.05).
*Junior Chris Mykkanen inched just ahead of senior teammate Chavez in the 200 free for a 1-2 Rebel finish (1:40.28). Chavez reached the wall shortly afterward with the day's second best time (1:40.51), which also did not factor into the men's squad's final point tally.
*In the 400 IM race, freshman Mike Breitbart (4:03.91) poured in another second-place finish for UNLV.
*The Rebels' 'A' 400 free relay quartet of Ratiu, junior Steven Butler, Hemmens and Sziligyi (2:58.51) put forth a strong finish to the meet with their victory. They combined to finish almost three seconds ahead of second-place finisher Hawai'i's 'A' team (3:01.48).
*Freshman Dima Tereshchenko was the Scarlet and Gray's top men's diver at the meet, finishing third (317.40) in the 3-meter event and fourth (272.30) in the 1-meter. Subsequently, Tereshchenko moved into fourth all-time UNLV in the 1-meter with his six-dive score in the finals.

QUOTABLE: "This was a fun way to send our seniors off. We raced very aggressively, and that's what we need to do as we head into February. Our relays were really clicking, which has been and will definitely continue to be a huge piece of our teams' success come Mountain West and WAC Championship meet time." -Head Coach Ben Loorz

UP NEXT: UNLV will have one final regular season tune-up as it heads on the road for a dual meet at Grand Canyon in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 10 a.m. PT.
 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Carissa Armijo

Carissa Armijo

Fly
5' 3"
Senior
Teneka Ash

Teneka Ash

Fly/Free
5' 9"
Senior
Calysta Bartlett

Calysta Bartlett

IM
5' 9"
Sophomore
Blanka Bokros

Blanka Bokros

Fly
5' 6"
Sophomore
Panos Bolanos

Panos Bolanos

Back/Free
Junior
Steven Butler

Steven Butler

Sprint Free
6' 4"
Junior
Malia Fernandez

Malia Fernandez

Sprint
5' 5"
Sophomore
Julia Filippova

Julia Filippova

Free
5' 9"
Senior
Ava Haase

Ava Haase

Sprint
5' 9"
Senior
Reece Hemmens

Reece Hemmens

Sprint
6' 2"
Senior
Kacey Kiuchi

Kacey Kiuchi

Back
5' 7"
Senior
Michael Klauss

Michael Klauss

Fly
5' 11"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Carissa Armijo

Carissa Armijo

5' 3"
Senior
Fly
Teneka Ash

Teneka Ash

5' 9"
Senior
Fly/Free
Calysta Bartlett

Calysta Bartlett

5' 9"
Sophomore
IM
Blanka Bokros

Blanka Bokros

5' 6"
Sophomore
Fly
Panos Bolanos

Panos Bolanos

Junior
Back/Free
Steven Butler

Steven Butler

6' 4"
Junior
Sprint Free
Malia Fernandez

Malia Fernandez

5' 5"
Sophomore
Sprint
Julia Filippova

Julia Filippova

5' 9"
Senior
Free
Ava Haase

Ava Haase

5' 9"
Senior
Sprint
Reece Hemmens

Reece Hemmens

6' 2"
Senior
Sprint
Kacey Kiuchi

Kacey Kiuchi

5' 7"
Senior
Back
Michael Klauss

Michael Klauss

5' 11"
Senior
Fly