MINNEAPOLIS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV men's and women's swimming teams closed the Minnesota Invitational strong with 11 top-20 finishes in Saturday's finale at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
On the day, the Rebels compiled nine top-15 finishes during the finals and had five NCAA 'B' cut times during both prelims and finals. Overall, the Scarlet & Gray ended the meet with six different swimmers earning 'B' cuts in seven events and 34 top-32 finishes across all event finals at the four-day meet that included several nationally ranked teams.
REBELS OF THE MEET:
WOMEN
*Junior
Blanka Bokros swam sub-2 minutes for an NCAA 'B' cut in the 200 fly.
*Junior
Calysta Bartlett recorded a 'B' cut in the 100 breast over the weekend
MEN
*Sophomore
Adnan Beji logged four NCAA 'B' cut times in each of his swims across the 100 breast and 200 breast prelims and finals.
*Senior
Panos Bolanos also chimed in with four 'B' cuts over the course of prelims and finals in the 200 back and 200 free.
*Super Senior
Reece Hemmens contributed another 'B' cut in the 50 free.
*Sophomore
Bryson Huey also tallied a 'B' cut mark in the 50 free..
THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:
*Junior
Calysta Bartlett led the Scarlet & Gray women in the 200 breast, qualifying for the 'A' final in prelims (2:15.37) before going on to place eighth overall (2:16.44). Joining her in the top-15 of the event was her junior counterpart
Ruby Howell (2:15.51), who lowered her prelims time by over one-quarter of a second in the finals to finish 11th.
*Talllying top-20 finishes in the 200 fly, Bokros' (1:57.47*) ninth-place finish was paired with an 18th-place finish by super senior
Gabby Lizzul on a time of 2:00.74. Bokros dropped her prelims time by nearly four seconds, while Lizzul did the same by 1.27 seconds.
*Freshman
Hannah Jones poured in a 14th-place finish in the 1650 free (6:54.26).
*Contribuing a top-32 finish in the 200 free, sophomore
Cameron Mykkanen (2:02.99) raced to a 29th-place finish.
THE RUNDOWN – MEN:
*Pacing all Rebels with a fifth-place finish in the 200 breast, Beji touched the final wall with a time of 1:56.41* and nearly a one-half second improvement upon his prelims time (1:56.86*). Sophomore Mike Breitbart (1:58.69) broke through with a 12th-place finish in the same event.
*Bolanos, meanwhile, clocked a time of 1:42.72* in the 200 back finals en route to a sixth-place finish. His finals time was almost one second faster than his mark in prelims (1:43.56*)
*In the 100 free, the Rebels received another pair of top-20 finishes as freshmen
Charley Page-Jones (44.15) and Kris Matuszewski (44.19) took 18th and 19th, respectively. The Scarlet & Gray also saw three more swimmers reach finals in the event, including a 28th-place finish by
Steven Butler (44.14), 30th-place finish by Huey (44.61) and 32nd-place finish by Hemmens (45.30).
*Sophomore
Dominik Bujak (1:53.08) competed in the 200 fly final, coming in 28th place.
*In the meet's final event, the Rebel 'A' relay team of Bolanos, Matuszewski, Page-Jones and Butler (2:55.86) notched a 12th-place finish. The Scarlet & Gray 'B' relay squad (Huey, Beji, Breitbart, Hemmens) finished 15th in the same race.
QUOTABLE: "This was a phenomenal high-level opportunity for us. To get A-final swims at this meet, and to go head-to-head with American-record holding relays, provided critical exposure for our swimmers. I thought we had a mixed bag of results, which is always the way things go with mid-season invitationals, but I'm certain we're going to be better because of this experience. Moving forward, we have about six weeks to make crucial changes following our upcoming annual invite... After that, the 'hay is in the barn' as they say and then it's conference championship season."
-UNLV Head Coach Ben Loorz
UP NEXT: The Rebels will continue their season in a couple of weeks by hosting the UNLV Invitational at Jim Reitz Pool from Saturday-Monday, Dec. 17-19.
*-NCAA 'B' Provisional Time
NEWS & NOTES
- On the men's side, UNLV went up against No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Cal, No. 21 Wisconsin, No. 24 Minnesota, No. 25 Arizona, as well as Harvard and Pitt in the four-day event.
- Additionally, the Scarlet & Gray's women, meanwhile, competed against No. 1 Texas, No. 13 Wisconsin, No. 14 Cal, Arizona, Harvard, Minnesota and Pitt over the weekend.
