Julia Fehervari, Avi Cohen and Boris Kulizhnikov each won three individual races to help the UNLV men and women top Cal State-Bakersfield and the women beat Fresno State Tuesday.
The triangular pitted men’s and women’s teams from UNLV, CSUB and Fresno State against one another, though the women’s dual between UNLV and Fresno was not officially scored.
Women’s Meet
UNLV was dominant in the sprints, thanks to Hungarian junior Julia Fehervari, who won three of the meet’s five freestyle events.
Fehervari was the only woman under 24 in the 50 free (23.86), won a touchout of CSUB’s Paola Hernandez in the 100 (51.57 to 51.74) and took the 200 free (1:52.48) in what was an undefeated day for her. She would also lead off UNLV’s winning 200 free relay at the end of the meet.
Hernandez nearly tripled herself for the home team, winning the 100 back (58.06) and 200 IM (2:07.46) and just missing that win in the 100 free.
But UNLV was dominant across the rest of the event lineup. The Runnin’ Rebels swept the butterfly races on Stephanie Samudro‘s 56.06 and 2:05.83 performances, and also took the 200 back (Jessica Wong in 2:03.92) and 100 breast (Lina Rathsack‘s 1:05.67).
Fresno State got a pair of wins in the pool. Hailee Baldwin topped Rathsack for the 200 breast title 2:21.37 to 2:21.52, and Kelly Simmons won the 500 with a 5:05.65. Bakersfield’s other swimming win came in the 1000, where Delise Batiza went 10:26.34 to beat out Simmons by four seconds.
Meanwhile in diving, Fresno’s Shelbie Holden won on 1-meter and CSUB’s Carlee Burks struck back with the 3-meter win.
UNLV topped Cal State Bakersfield in the final scores, 164-129, while CSUB beat Fresno in a tight matchup, 156-143. The UNLV/Fresno State meet was not scored.
Men’s Meet
The men’s competition was a straight-up dual meet between Bakersfield and UNLV, with the Rebels taking all but three swimming events.
Freshmen Avi Cohen and Boris Kulizhnikov led the way for the Rebs, combining for 6 individual wins on the day.
Cohen, an Israeli national, swept the butterfly races while taking the 200 back. Cohen’s toughest test came in the 100 fly, where he won by the slimmest of margins, nipping CSUB’s Mihael Vukic 50.21 to 50.22. Cohen also went 1:51.28 to run away with the 200 fly and 1:55.24 to pace the 200 back.
Kulizhnikov, meanwhile, swept the breaststrokes and added the 200 IM for good measure. The Russian NCAA rookie was 58.68 in the 100 breast and 2:07.46 in the 200, plus went 1:55.86 to top the day’s only IM event.
Bakersfield was untouchable in the distance races, though, where star senior Mitchell Huxhold went 4:35.54 in the 500 and 9:29.18 in the 1000 to win with ease.
Bakersfield also benefited from a UNLV disqualification in the 400 medley relay. The Rebels finished first, but a DQ gave the win to CSUB in 3:27.92. UNLV fired back to win the 200 free relay in 1:22.75, though.
Tom Paco-Pedroni swept the 100 (45.93) and 200 frees (1:41.36) for the Rebels, and Or Sabatier‘s 20.97 just denied Paco-Pedroni a third win in the 50 free. Paco-Pedroni was 20.99.
Also winning for UNLV was Henrique Machado, who took the 100 back in 51.70.
Cal State – Bakersfield swept diving behind Brayden Greenwald. The freshman scored 241.50 on 1-meter and 214.43 on 3-meter for the home team.
That settled a 177-116 win for UNLV.
