Women's Swimming - Bridget Sullivan at UNLV Invitational

Swimming & Diving

Rebel Women Win Third Straight Dual Over In-State Rival UNR

The UNLV women's squad wins eight events and grabs five event sweeps during the road victory

RENO (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV women's swimming and diving team picked up a 166-133 victory over in-state rival UNR for the third straight season  Friday at Lombardi Pool. With the win, the Rebels will clinch at least a tie of the three points in the Silver State Series presented by America First Credit Union.

Overall, the Rebels won eight events, grabbed five event sweeps in the freestyle specialties and had 29 combined top-3 finishes across the individual and relay races.

REBELS OF THE MEET:
*Sophomore Cameron Mykkanen gave the Rebels the lead for good with her comeback win in the 200 back. She also placed third in the 100 back (57.57) and 100 fly (57.38).
*Freshman Hannah Jones paced the Scarlet & Gray in the distance swims with a 1000 free win.
*Sophomore Bridget Sullivan and freshman Erika Carlson both led UNLV with 18 points, individually. Sullivan had her first career double-win meet, taking first place in the 50 free (24.15) and 100 free (52.32), while Carlson made her mark with 200 free (1:52.20) and 500 free (5:01.77) wins.
*Junior Ruby Howell finished with the squad's second most points on the day (9 points), placing second in both the 200 IM (2:08.11) and 200 breast (2:22.66) and fifth in the 100 backstroke (58.40).

THE RUNDOWN
*The Rebels completed a 1-2-3 event sweep in the 1000 free as freshman Hannah Jones won with a time of 10:24.46. Following her were freshman Ashley Hughes in second (10:33.14) and super senior Tenesha Ash in third (10:34.25).
*In the 200 free, Carlson and her freshman counterpart Kayleigh Lovell made it a 1-2 Rebel finish. Lovell followed right behind Carlson in second place with a time of 1:54.36.
*Junior Blanka Bokros (2:02.66) secured another win in the 200 fly, touching the wall just seconds before her Rebel teammate in super senior Gabby Lizzul (2:06.01), who finished second. Additionally, Bokros led the way in the 100 fly by claiming second place.
*Moments later, Sullivan, sophomore Pilar Cohen and junior Malia Fernandez completed a 1-2-3 sweep in the 50 free. After Sullivan's first-place finish, Cohen and Fernandez finished side-by-side to tie for second place (24.20).
*The Rebels' sprint specialists added another 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 free with Sullivan touching the wall first in 52.32. Swapping spots from their prior event, Fernandez finished second (53.26) and Cohen took home third place (53.40).
*Mykkanen snagged an upset win with her come-from-behind effort in the 200 backstroke (2:03.19). After being out-split by the Wolf Pack's Benedict Nagy on the first 100 yards, the second-year Rebel ended up out-touching Nagy with respective splits of 30.95 and 31.32 on the final two 50 yard laps.
*The Scarlet & Gray completed a third event sweep of the day in the 500 free led by Carlson (5:01.77). Right behind her Jones secured second place (5:07.81), Ash took third (5:09.73). Hughes finished with the fourth-best time in the race 5:11.74, giving the Rebels the top-4 spots as she exhibitioned the race.
*UNLV wrapped up the night with their final victory in the 200 free relay. The Rebel 'A' team of Fernandez, Cohen, Sullivan and freshman Averi Webb combined to post a first-place time of 1:35.38.
*Also headlining efforts for UNLV in the diving events, junior Vika Yanovska and sophomore Jenna Walch each splashed their way to personal bests in the 3-meter competition. The former scored a 299.78 for fifth place and the latter tallied a 243.15 for sixth place.
*Also tacking on top-3 finishes for the Scarlet & Gray, junior Calysta Bartlett (1:04.68) and freshman Jillian Moses (1:05.36) had second-place and third-place finishes in the 100 breast, respectively. Moses also contributed a third-place swim of 2:23.05 in the 200 breast.
*The Rebel 'A' relay team (Webb, Bartlett, Bokros, Cohen) swam to a second-place finish (1:45.35) in the 200 medley relay to start the day's events.
*Additionally, the meet was a successful homecoming for senior Alexia Taylor-Arredondo. The Reno native swam in the 50 free (24.56), 100 free (53.33), and anchored the Rebel 'B' team (Lovell, Ash, Carlson, Taylor-Arredondo) to third place in the 200 free relay.

QUOTABLE: "It's always a good day when you get the win against the Wolf Pack. [Reno] is a tough place to race, but our women really brought great energy and raced tough. Hats off to our freestyle crews, they were indomitable and really carried us today. It's tough to beat any home team at altitude, but our squad was untouchable across the board in the freestyle races in both distance and sprints. And then Cameron [Mykkanen] came up big with the upset win in the 200 back to give us the lead for good. Despite a great win, we're laser-focused on the Mountain West Championships, so we're going to stay humble and hungry for the bigger prize at the end of the season." -UNLV Head Coach Ben Loorz

UP NEXT: The Rebels' weekend ends with the men's squad competing in San Diego at the Triton Invitational against host UC San Diego and No. 3 Cal on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

Calysta Bartlett

Calysta Bartlett

IM
5' 9"
Sophomore
Blanka Bokros

Blanka Bokros

Fly
5' 6"
Sophomore
Malia Fernandez

Malia Fernandez

Sprint
5' 5"
Sophomore
Ruby Howell

Ruby Howell

Breast/IM
5' 11"
Sophomore
Gabby Lizzul

Gabby Lizzul

Fly
5' 6"
Senior
Alexia Taylor-Arredondo

Alexia Taylor-Arredondo

Sprint Free
5' 7"
Junior
Vika Yanovska

Vika Yanovska

Diving
5' 4"
Sophomore
Pilar Cohen

Pilar Cohen

Sprint
5' 11"
Freshman
Cameron Mykkanen

Cameron Mykkanen

Back/Fly
5' 10"
Freshman
Bridget Sullivan

Bridget Sullivan

Free
5' 7"
Freshman
Jenna Walch

Jenna Walch

Diving
5' 0"
Freshman
Averi Webb

Averi Webb

Free/Back
5' 9"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Calysta Bartlett

Calysta Bartlett

5' 9"
Sophomore
IM
Blanka Bokros

Blanka Bokros

5' 6"
Sophomore
Fly
Malia Fernandez

Malia Fernandez

5' 5"
Sophomore
Sprint
Ruby Howell

Ruby Howell

5' 11"
Sophomore
Breast/IM
Gabby Lizzul

Gabby Lizzul

5' 6"
Senior
Fly
Alexia Taylor-Arredondo

Alexia Taylor-Arredondo

5' 7"
Junior
Sprint Free
Vika Yanovska

Vika Yanovska

5' 4"
Sophomore
Diving
Pilar Cohen

Pilar Cohen

5' 11"
Freshman
Sprint
Cameron Mykkanen

Cameron Mykkanen

5' 10"
Freshman
Back/Fly
Bridget Sullivan

Bridget Sullivan

5' 7"
Freshman
Free
Jenna Walch

Jenna Walch

5' 0"
Freshman
Diving
Averi Webb

Averi Webb

5' 9"
Freshman
Free/Back