LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV men's and women's swimming and diving teams found themselves among the top beneficiaries of the fourth annual Rebels Give fundraising campaign held last week from April 5-6. In honor of the year the university was founded, 1957, the crowdfunding drive lasted for 1,957 minutes.

During that span, the Rebel women's and men's programs received a combined 161 gifts from donors, including 93 donations to the former and 68 donations to the latter. Together, their total led all athletics programs and accounted for over half of UNLV Athletics' 283 gifts received as a department - which ranked first among all university departments and units. Meanwhile, it landed behind only the Graduate College's 196 total gifts on the school's leaderboard.

On top of that, they both surpassed their own 60 gift challenges that subsequently brought in $2,000 donations from UNLV alumni Diana Palma (1986-90) and Ron Aitken (1986-90). Additionally, legendary head coach Jim Reitz, who spent 35 years at the helm of the Rebel programs, gifted $1,000 to the women's side for winning the head-to-head gift battle over the men's side as part of the Coach Reitz Challenge.

The outpouring of support will help the Rebel programs build upon their high benchmarks in the pool and on the springboard during the 2021-22 season. The Scarlet and Gray saw 23 student-athletes earn 44 NCAA provisional standards along with the eight new school records that were set on the year.