AUSTIN, Texas (UNLVRebels.com) – Junior
Adnan Beji set a program record in the 200 breast as part of the UNLV men's and women's swimming teams' 11 top-15 finishes on Saturday to wrap up the Texas Invitational at Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center.
The Rebels, who racked up 34 top-15 event finishes at the four-day meet, squared off against several nationally ranked programs. Among those were the host Longhorns' No. 2 women and No. 13 men, USC's No. 4 women and No. 16 men, Stanford's No. 8 men and No. 10 women, as well as Wisconsin's No. 12 women and No. 20 men.
THE RUNDOWN – MEN:
- After nearly two years of sitting in second on the school 200 breast record chart, Beji broke through with a 1:54.16 as he secured a fourth-place finish in the event. It was his second NCAA 'B' cut of the meet and gave him possession of both the 100 and 200 breaststroke records at UNLV.
- Competing in the 'B' final of the 200 back, freshman Wikus Potgieter sped to an 11th-place finish (1:43.87) and McKay Mickelson followed only two places behind in 13th (1:45.22). With his time, Potgieter moved into fifth all-time on the Rebel record list.
- Senior George Ratiu led the Rebels in the 100 free with a third-place finish behind a personal-best 42.68 that came within one-tenth of a second of another Scarlet & Gray record. He improved his second-fastest mark in program history by almost four-tenths of a second.
- Also competing in the 100 free, junior Bryson Huey (44.04) out-touched the Longhorns' Camden Taylor (44.06) by only two-hundredths of a second to finish 15th.
- Junior Mike Breitbart competed in the 200 breast 'B' final and took 13th with his season-best time of 1:59.88.
- Topping off an eventful meet, the Rebel 'A' team of Ratiu and Huey alongside seniors Steven Butler and Cam Castro placed third in the 400 free relay with an NCAA 'B' cut of 2:51.76.
THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN:
- Seniors Ruby Howell (2:13.63) and Calysta Bartlett (2:16.25) led the Rebels in the 200 breast, placing ninth and 13th, respectively. Additionally, Howell won the 'B' final with an NCAA 'B' cut time.
- Competing in the 200 fly 'B' final, senior Blanka Bokros swam to a 13th-place finish as she touched in 1:59.59.
- Freshman Dominika Trentkiewicz gave the Scarlet & Gray another 13th-place effort in the 200 back, gliding to a time of 1:59.24.
QUOTABLE: "Overall this was a successful weekend. Great job tonight for Adnan to finally get his school record in the 200 breast. And our men's 400 free relay is as fast as we've ever been midseason, so I'm pretty pleased with where that will rank us. We've got four weeks until our home Invite, and there's a lot of work to still be done, but this was a good check-in for the first half of the season."
-UNLV Head Coach Ben Loorz
UP NEXT: The Rebels will begin preparing to host their annual UNLV Invitational, which is set for Saturday-Tuesday, Dec. 16-19.
