SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) – After combining to win 23 events, the UNLV men's and women's swimming teams pulled off the dual sweep of UC Santa Barbara by scores of 150-107 and 171-86, respectively, Saturday at Campus Pool. This marked the Rebel women's first win over UCSB since the 2018-19 season and men's first triumph over the Gauchos since 2012-13 in dual competition.

REBELS OF THE MEET:

Men
*Junior Panos Bolanos continued his strong season with a pair of wins in the 100 back (49.62) and 200 back (1:47.88). Bolanos' 200 back win helped him remain unbeaten this season with his sixth overall first-place finish in the event.
*Junior Chris Mykkanen had a strong day with first-place finishes in the 200 free (1:38.85) and 500 free (4:33.57).
*Freshman Adnan Beji also claimed a sweep of his two events on the day, placing first in the 100 breast (56.36) and 200 breast (2:03.47). 

Women
*Senior Teneka Ash went the distance for twin victories in the 500 free (5:00.99) and 1000 free (10:14.00).
*Sophomore Blanka Bokros completed her own individual event sweep as she won the 100 fly (55.79) and 200 fly (2:00.90).
*Sophomore Calysta Bartlett provided another pair of individual wins in the 100 breast (1:04.24) and 200 breast (2:19.31).


THE RUNDOWN – MEN:
*Sophomore George Ratiu (20.88) and junior Steven Butler (45.83) matched their women counterparts with a sweep of the sprints. The former placed first in the 50 free while the latter won the 100 free.
*Butler's 100 free win paved the way for UNLV's sweep of the top-3 spots, which also featured a second-place finish by Ratiu (45.90) and third-place finish by senior Richard Szilagyi (46.09).
*Their momentum carried over into Mykannen's 200 free and 500 free wins that led a string of three more top-5 Rebel finishes. Freshman Andrew Navarro placed second (4:34.10) and junior Cam Castro fourth (4:38.10)  in the 500 free while senior Bryan Chavez's 200 free time of 1:39.59 landed him in third.
*Completing the distance event sweep, Castro's first-place swim in the 1000 free came on a time of 9:22.48. Sophomore Cooper Kiel (10:03.06) gave the Rebels additional scoring in the event with his fifth-place finish.
*Senior Ivan Zhukau joined Beji with his matching finishes in the breaststroke events as he trailed close behind his Scarlet and Gray teammate in second place in the 100 breast (57.88) and 200 breast (2:04.13). Senior Jack Binder added to the scoring in those events with a fifth-place time of 58.43 in the 100 breast.
*In the 100 fly, Chavez sped his way to another UNLV first-place finish with a time of 49.88. Chavez's senior counterparts Michal Cukanow (50.32) and Michael Klauss (50.88) provided more points in the 100 fly with their respective third-place and fifth-place finishes.
*Moving to the 200 fly, Klauss paced all Rebels in second while Navarro (1:51.48) tagged in third and Mickelson (1:52.18) in fourth.
*The Rebel men's squad received additional points in the sprints and backstrokes behind senior Reece Hemmen's (21.24) fourth-place finish in the 50 free, Szilagyi's (51.56) fifth-place finish in the 100 back and Mickelson's (1:50.31) third-place finish in the 200 back.
*UNLV's 'A' team of Bolanos, Beji, senior Casey McEuen and Butler sent the Rebels out on a high note with their 200 medley relay victory (1:30.93).

THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:
*Seniors Kristina Schneider, Ava Haase and Julia Filippova each made a splash with first-place finishes for UNLV in the sprint freestyle events. Schneider won the 50 free (23.88), Haase came away with the 100 free (51.99) victory and Filippova finished first in the 200 free (1:52.68).
*Haase's win in the 100 free was part of a 1-2 Scarlet and Gray finish as Schneider (52.14) swam to a second-place finish to top off that list.
*Along with Ash's two wins, the Rebels came away with a 1-2-3 sweep of both the 500 free and 1000 free. Filippova took second in the 500 free (5:04.23) and 1000 free (10:18.21) while senior Carissa Armijo finished third in the 500 free (5:06.55) and 1000 free with a personal best of 10:23.29.
*The Scarlet and Gray women also came out on top in the backstroke events behind seniors Kate Afanasyeva's and Kacey Kiuchi's individual wins. The former touched first in the 100 back (54.94) while the latter reached the final wall first in the 200 back (2:04.21).
*Another pair of Rebel 1-2 finishes followed in the squad's 100 fly and and 200 breast wins. Afanasyeva (55.90) tagged behind Bokros in second in the 100 fly while sophomore Ruby Howell clocked a second-place time of 2:22.08 in the 200 breast.
*Senior Gabby Lizzul kept up UNLV's scoring momentum in the 200 fly, placing third with a time of 2:05.53.
*Also contributing to the point total in the freestyle events were sophomore Malia Fernandez's fourth-place finish (52.37) in the 100 free and senior Alexia Taylor-Arredondo's fourth-place finish (24.47) in the 50 free. Additionally, Armijo (1:54.29) in third place and Kiuchi (1:54.76) in fourth place tacked on points in the 200 free.
*Topping off the scoring in the 100 back, senior Lindsay Swail (58.59) and her Scarlet and Gray teammates Howell (58.77) and Bartlett (59.73) wound up in third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
*Meanwhile, freshman Cameron Mykkanen notched a second-place finish and was followed by Swail (2:07.63) in fourth in the 200 back.
*Ending the day in the 200 medley relay, UNLV's 'A' unit of Afanasyeva, Bartlett, sophomore Sarah Koopmans and Schneider finished first (1:43.68) as part of a 1-2 Rebel finish. The Rebels' 'B' squad of Swail, Iwanowska, Bokros and Fernandez combined to take second with a time of 1:46.82.
*Seniors Skylar Moore and Annie Sanguansin tallied a combined three points in the 100 breast. Moore (1:07.59) piled on a fourth-place finish and Sanguansin (1:07.87) added a fifth-place finish.

QUOTABLE: "UCSB is our oldest rival, so it's always nice to get the 'W' against them. But we need to race with better consistency. Many of these performances are much slower than we went in the Fall dual meets, and that can't happen. In the end, we stepped up well in relays and distance events. Our sprinting was hit and miss, but that opened the door for some student-athletes like Steven [Butler] and Ava [Haase] in the 100 free to lead the way. Overall on the women's side, our seniors were really good today and I appreciate their leadership in the pool. For the men, our depth played really well today. UCSB's men's squad is talented and in the few instances where they got a win, our guys did a nice job of neutralizing it by scoring a lot of points in the second through fifth range." -Head Coach Ben Loorz

NEXT UP: The Rebels' men's and women's diving teams will look to ride the wave of their swimmer counterparts' success next weekend when they head to Los Angeles for UCLA's Bruin Invitational being held Friday (Jan. 14) through Sunday (Jan. 16).