UNLV vs Grand Canyon
- Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Team Scores
- Women: UNLV 160, GCU 156
- Men: UNLV 193, GCU 116
Courtesy: UNLV Athletics
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – Behind 21 combined event wins, the UNLV men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams ended their 2022-23 regular season dual slate with a Senior Meet sweep over Grand Canyon on Saturday at Jim Reitz Pool.
On the men’s side, the Rebels enjoyed dominant performances to earn a 193-116 victory over GCU. Overcoming a 10-point deficit after the swimming events, the Rebel women edged the ‘Lopes in the diving events to come out on top, 160-156.
REBELS OF THE MEET:
MEN
*Super Senior Reece Hemmens put on a show in his final home meet with individual wins in the 50 free (19.95) and 100 free (44.60). He also anchored the Rebel men’s 200 medley relay (1:26.07) and 200 free relay (1:19.23) victories.
*Also enjoying two individual wins in his last home appearance, senior Panos Bolanos won the 500 free (4:25.16) and 200 IM (1:48.19). Additionally, Bolanos joined Hemmens in the squad’s 200 medley relay first-place finish and tallied an eighth-place finish in the 200 free (1:42.32).
*In the diving events, sophomore Dima Tereshchenko had a double-win day in the 1-meter (343.05) and 3-meter (313.88) competitions.
WOMEN
*In her last home outing, senior Gabby Lizzul won the 400 IM (4:25.31) and came away with a third-place finish in the 200 fly (2:02.08).
*Junior Vika Yanovska swept the diving events, winning the 1-meter (277.95) and 3-meter (316.58) competitions.
*Sweeping the distance events, freshman Chloe Wendlandt toppled the competition in the 500 free (4:58.36) and 1000 free (10:05.74)
THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN
*Among her pair of diving wins, Yanovska ended the day with a personal-best score of 316.58 in the 3-meter. Assisting in the Scarlet & Gray comeback, sophomore Jenna Walch added a second-place finish with a personal-best score on the 1-meter (246.30) springboard, while taking third place on the 3-meter (235.65) springboard.
*A complete 1-2-3 Rebel sweep led by Wendlandt in the 1000 free included her freshman counterparts Hannah Jones (10:23.32) and Ashley Hughes (10:23.64) finishing in second and third, respectively.
*Wendlandt’s 500 free contributed to another 1-2 finish for UNLV. That was capped by senior Teneka Ash’s (4:58.77) second-place finish during her senior meet, which also included her fourth-place finish in the 200 fly (2:03.37).
*Freshman Marta Klimek stole the show with the 200 free win, swimming a time of 1:51.40. It was part of a 200 free sweep that also included the Rebel men’s first-place finish in the same event.
*Backing up UNLV’s scoring with a 200 back victory, sophomore Cameron Mykkanen’s first-place finishing swim checked in at 2:01.19 on the clock.
*Junior Ruby Howell helped the Rebel cause by chipping in a first-place finish in the 200 breast, finishing with a time of 2:17.78.
*Senior Alexia Taylor-Arredondo left her mark in the scoring for her last swims in Las Vegas. She placed fifth (24.35) in the 50 free and anchored the Rebels’ ‘B’ squad (Cao, Klimek, Tonsil, Taylor-Arredondo) to a fourth-place finish (1:37.32) in the 200 free relay.
*The Scarlet & Gray ‘A’ team (Sullivan, Webb, Fernandez, Cohen) swam a second-place time of 1:33.76 in the 200 free relay. Another second-place relay finish came via the 200 medley relay (Webb, Iwanowska, Mykkanen, Cohen) with a time of 1:43.17.
THE RUNDOWN – MEN
*The Rebels earned a 1-2 sweep in both the 50 free and 100 free behind Hemmens’ twin first-place finishes. Touching second behind him were junior George Ratiu in the 50 free (20.02) and freshman Kris Matuszewski in the 100 free (44.75).
*Matuszewski rode his momentum from the 100 free into a 200 free victory. He finished with a time of 1:36.93.
*Sophomore Adnan Beji swept the 100 breast (52.90) and 200 breast (1:58.90) races.
*Senior Cam Castro (9:10.42) provided a first-place finish in the 1000 free to lead a 1-2 Rebel punch. The Scarlet & Gray freshman Hilton Aitken (9:37.06) filled the second-place spot.
*In the 500 free, Castro (4:32.51) also glided his way to a second-place finish behind Bolanos as the duo solidified a 1-2 sweep.
*That wasn’t the end of the Rebels’ claim to 1-2 finishes as junior McKay Mickelson (1:50.91) took second in the 200 back right behind Bolanos to join the list.
*Sophomore Mike Breitbart (3:55.90) contributed to a 1-2 finish with his victory in the 400 IM, which also marked a sweep for the men and women sides in the event. Shortly after Breitbart’s finish, sophomore Dominik Bujak reached the wall in second with a time of 3:57.22.
*The Rebel ‘A’ relay teams launched their way to a double-win meet after their 200 medley relay (Bolanos, Beji, Ratiu, Hemmens) and 200 free relay (Huey, Page-Jones, Butler, Hemmens) squads’ first-place finishes.
QUOTABLE: “The men were dominant today against one of our top WAC competitors. The women had an interesting meet today, getting swept in some events, while throwing down some outstanding performances in others. In the end, it was diving that helped secure the ‘W’ for us. Shout out to Coach Anne (Schwemmer) and the diving crew. Vika (Yanovska) and Jenna (Walch) deserve a lot of credit for overcoming a 10-point deficit after the swimming events. Lastly, the seniors did a great job leading the way today. It was a fantastic way to finish their dual meet careers. The next two weeks of training and tapering will require the men’s squad to build on today and motivate each other as the coaching staff and women’s team head to Texas for the Mountain West Championships.” -UNLV Head Coach Ben Loorz
UP NEXT: The Rebels will head into conference championship season, with the women’s squad traveling to Houston for the Mountain West Championships scheduled for Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 15-18. In 18 days, the Scarlet & Gray men’s team will take the stage in Pharr, Texas, at the WAC Championships being held from Wednesday-Saturday, Feb. 22-25.
Courtesy: GCU Athletics
LAS VEGAS – The Grand Canyon men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams fell in close dual meets Saturday at UNLV to close the regular season.
Despite strong individual performances, the GCU men lost 193-116 while the Lopes women lost 160-156.
To start the day, the GCU women’s 200-yard medley relay team of senior Brianna Rittenbach, junior Raphaela Nakashima, freshman Paula Martinez Moreno and graduate Emily Muteti took first, touching the wall at 1 minute, 41.17 seconds. This time was two seconds faster than the second-place finishers from UNLV.
All four members of the medley relay team went on to win their individual 100-yard events.
Also for the Lopes, sophomore Maria Brunlehner won the 100 freestyle with a time of 51.06, and the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:05.21.
The women’s 200 freestyle relay team made up of Muteti, sophomore Maria Chatzi, senior Kaitlyn Carr and Brunlehner won the event clocking in at 1:32.74.
On the men’s side of the competition, sophomore Sam Jennings won the 100 backstroke with a time of 49.16 and the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:46.63.
Graduate Adrian Curbelo took first place in both the 100 and 200 butterfly with times of 48.17 and 1:48.04.
This was the last dual meet of the regular season for the Lopes. The diving teams will compete at Arizona State on Saturday before the whole team heads to the WAC Championships, which will go from Feb. 22-25 in Pharr, Texas.
Full results from Saturday’s meet can be found here.
