Even with the leave of absence of the Head Coach Eric Hansen this week, Arizona was able to kick off their home opener with a win versus UNLV. The men bounced back from an upset at Utah last week to win, 208-91, while the women built on their win last week to finish 183-109 against the Rebels.
Women’s Meet
The Wildcats started the day by winning the 200 medley relay. The team of Alana Pazevic, Emma Schoettmer, Katja Hadjinak, and Grace Finnegan finished with a time of 1:41.50. Arizona’s B team would finish in second.
Ashley Evans then went on to win the 1000 yard freestyle event with a time of 10:21.32.
Margo Geer had another good day in the pool with victories in the 200 free, 100 free, and the 50 free. The Cats swept all three of these events.
Geer’s times were 1:47.29, 49.92, 22.74. Bonnie Brandon finished second in the 200 at 1:47.60, Pazevic second in the 50 in 24:05 and Finnegan second in the 100 in 51.58 to Geer’s winning times.
Jessica Heim was 1:53.28 in the 200 freestyle for 4th for the Rebels.
Pazevic and Taylor Schick went 1-2 in the 100 back with Pazevic touching with a time of 56.53 and Schick touching at 56.76. UNLV’s Jessica Wong was third at 58.41.
Schoettmer took home the victory in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.32) and the 200 breaststroke. Sara Borendame (1:03.94/2:16.34) and Eve Sarris (1:04.89/2:20.86) finished 2 and 3 to complete the sweep in both events.
Evans, Elizabeth Pepper, and Katja Hadjinak finishing 1-2-3 in the 200 fly, continuing the strong day for the Wildcat women. Evans winning times was 2:00.15 with Pepper’s runner up time at 2:01.74.
Janelle Nguyen, UNLV, was fourth at 2:07.40.
Brandon kept up the momentum with a victory of her own in the 200 back with a time of 2:00.09. Wong of UNLV was second in 2:03.48.
She would go on to win her second event of the day in the 200 IM. She finished in 2:03.74.
Heim had the first individual victory for the Rebels in the 500 freestyle. She finished in 5:02.99, just ahead of the 5:04.78 by Evans of U of A. Katelyne Herrington followed up Heim’s win for UNLV with an impressive 54.98 100 butterfly.
Arizona swam the last relay, 200 freestyle, exhibition but had the fastest overall time. Between their A & B relays, the Cats averaged 23’s splits by all eight women.
Men’s Meet
The Arizona men also had a good day in the pool starting off with a victory in the 200 medley relay. The team of Mitchell Friedman, Kevin Cordes, Giles Smith, and Carson Brindle swam to a finish of 1:28.85.
The Rebels captured the first individual event of the afternoon in the 1000 freestyle. Matt Roe finished in 9:24.44, easily over Arizona’s Ty Fowler at 9:33.57.
Sophomore Kelly Moodie took home an early victory for the Cats in the 200 free with a time of 1:39.84. UNLV’s Giacomo Gremizzi was close behind though at 1:39.90, and his teammate Sam Lameynardie in third at 1:41.08.
Friedemann added to his relay win with a victory in the 100 back, 56.53. Again, UNLV was at the wall second with Henrique Machado at 49.65.
Michael Sheppard was third for Arizona in 49.92. Sheppard would return to the pool later and win the 200 backstroke in 1:49.14.
Cordes tallied victories in the 100 breaststroke (54.09) and the 200 breaststroke. Cordes won the 200 by almost 4 seconds, 2:00.21, over Gremizzi’s 2:04.16 for the Rebels.
David Szele finished in second to Cordes in the 100 at 55.53.
UNLV found their men at the wall first in the 200 butterfly with Balint Batka putting up a great time. He finished at 1:48.76, over five seconds ahead of Zona’s Andrew Porter.
Dillon Virva took the first sprint event for UNLV at 20.26. Arizona slid in for second, third and fourth with Jeff Amlee, Brian Stevens, and Friedemann at 21.02, 21.11 and 21.17.
Matt Barber notched his first victory of the season as he took home the 500 free in 4:34.80. He just touched out Roe, who had a charging last 50, but finished second at 4:35.07.
Smith also added points for the Cats with victories in the 100 freestyle, 44.89, and 100 butterfly, 48.11.
Rebel Lameynardie was second to Smith in the 100 freestyle at 45.18. While Batka was second in the butterfly event in 50.22.
The men capped off the day with a victory in the 200 free relay. The team of Smith, Friedemann, Brian Stevens, and Amlee finished with a time of 1:21.90.
