2022 UNLV Invitational
- December 17-19, 2022
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
- Team Scores
Courtesy: UCLA Athletics
LAS VEGAS – The UCLA swim team closed out the 2022 calendar year with a dominant showing at the UNLV Invitational, taking first place in the 10-team field with a final score of 1,344.
The Bruins were in control of the meet from start to finish, winning 15 of 19 swimming events overall. UCLA won every relay competition and also swept the individual races in both freestyle and IM.
Several Bruin swimmers collected multiple individual event wins over the three-day meet, which started on Saturday and wrapped up Monday. Fifth-year Claire Grover led all swimmers with three individual wins (50 free, 100 breast, 100 IM). Freshman Katrina Bellio (400 IM, 1650 free) and sophomore Eva Carlson (200 IM, 200 breast) each had a pair of wins.
Grover was the top individual scorer at the meet with 77 points. Carlson was right behind her at 72. Overall, eight of the top 10 individual scorers at the meet were Bruins.
UCLA started off the weekend with four wins in five events on Saturday. The opening finals session saw the Bruins finish 1-3 in the 200 free relay, with the UCLA As (Rachel Rhee, Maddie Wright, Gabby Dang, Grover) going 1:29.97. It was just the second time this season the Bruins broke the 90-second mark in that race.
Brooke Schaffer (4:58.76, sixth) and Maya Wilson (4:59.63, seventh) were UCLA’s top performers in the 500 free, reaching the A Final. Schaffer posted a best time (4:56.89) in prelims to land in the championship race.
Five separate Bruins reached the A Final in the 200 IM, with Carlson (2:00.96) notching a best time en route to the win. Sophomore Ana Jih-Schiff (2:01.65) placed runner-up.
UCLA then dominated the 50 free, placing the top three swimmers. Grover (22.48) led the field and recorded an NCAA B Cut, and she was followed by Dang (22.98) and senior Sophia Kosturos (23.13).
Saturday was closed out by a 1-2 finish for UCLA in the 400 medley relay. The Bruins’ top relay (Kosturos, Carlson, Dang, Grover) was nearly eight seconds faster than any other school.
UCLA picked up right where it left off on Sunday, with the same quartet from the 400 medley notching a win in the 200 medley relay at 1:37.94.
Bellio notched her first win of the weekend in the first individual race on Sunday, going an NCAA B Cut at 4:13.82 in the 400 IM. She was one of five Bruins to make the A Final.
Four UCLA swimmers made the top final in the 100 fly, led by Schaffer (55.17) who ended up fifth. A Bruin finished each in each spot 5-10 in that race.
The 200 free was all about Maya Wilson for UCLA, as the junior went a best time of 1:48.60 to record her first-collegiate event win. Five Bruins qualified for the A final overall in the 200 free.
The Bruins swept through the 100 breast, taking each of the top three spots and sending five overall to the A Final. Grover (1:00.31) and Carlson (1:00.32) both had best times and NCAA B Cuts to finish 1-2, while Rhee (1:02.32) was third. Grover was making her season debut in the 100 breast.
A quartet of Bruins reached the A Final in the 100 back, with Kosturos (53.78) posting an NCAA B Cut and picking up the win.
UCLA closed out Sunday with another dominant relay performance, finishing 1-3 in the 800 free relay. The A Team (Rhee, Schaffer, Wilson, Wright) completed the race in 7:17.98.
Monday was more of the same for UCLA, which won six of seven events on the day.
Bellio started it off with a landslide win in the 1650 free, notching a best time (16:21.06) and beating out the field by over 24 seconds. Stephanie Su (16:55.25, third) and Beril Bocekler (16:59.65, fifth) each beat the 17-minute mark to place top-five.
UCLA cleaned up in the 100 IM finals, placing each of the top five finishers and sending six overall to the A Final. Grover (54.46), Rosie Murphy (55.14), and Jih-Schiff (55.88) were the podium finishers for the Bruins.
Seniors Katrina Sommer (2:01.39, fourth) and Lindsay Stenstrom (2:02.65, sixth) were the two Bruins to make the top final in the 200 back. Sophomore Emma Matous (2:03.08) dropped nearly five seconds from her prelims time to finish runner-up in the B Final.
The 100 free saw another clean sweep, with Bruins taking the top five and seven of the top-10 spots. Rhee (49.06), Grover (49.10), and Schaffer (49.92) had the podium finishes.
UCLA then went 1-2-3 in the 200 breast, with Carlson (2:12.48) and Murphy (2:16.15) going best times and finishing 1-2. Junior Bailey Herbert (2:16.19) ended up in third.
Freshman Ashley Kolessar (1:59.19) was the lone swimmer to break the two-minute mark in the 200 fly, granting UCLA was one final individual event win. Bellio had a best time (2:04.94) in prelims but sat out the finals.
The Bruins are off for the remainder of 2022, but return to action with a dual meet at UC San Diego on Jan. 7. UCLA returns to Spieker Aquatics Center the following weekend, hosting the Bruin Diving Invitational from Jan. 13-15 while also welcoming Denver for a non-conference dual meet on Jan. 14.
Courtesy: UNLV Athletics
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams wrapped up their 2022 calendar year with Monday’s the finale to the annual UNLV Invitational at Jim Reitz Pool. The Rebel men earned the win and women placed third.
Finishing with 977 points, the Rebel men narrowly edged second-place finisher Cal Poly (940 points) by 30 points and finished ahead of third-place California Baptist (790.50 points), Fresno Pacific (347 points) in fourth, Linfield (188.50 points) in fifth and Lewis & Clark College (121 points) in sixth. On the women’s side, the Scarlet & Gray (722 points) topped fourth-place finisher New Mexico State (547 points), CBU in fifth (236 points) and Cal Poly in sixth (176 points). Coming out on top in the women’s standings was UCLA (1,344 points) – which has spent the season either ranked or receiving votes in the national top 25 – and WAC powerhouse Northern Arizona (762 points) in second place by a slim margin over the Rebels.
REBELS OF THE MEET:
WOMEN
*Junior Blanka Bokros led UNLV with 46 points in the individual standings, placing second in the 100 fly and sixth in both the 200 fly and 200 IM.
*Junior Ruby Howell tallied 39 points, taking fourth in the 200 IM and 200 breast, as well as ninth in the 100 breast.
*Super senior Teneka Ash racked up the third most points (37) for the Rebels, finishing fifth in the 200 fly, sixth in the 1650 free, 11th in the 200 free and 13th in the 500 free.
*Junior diver Vika Yanovska completed her trifecta of NCAA Zone qualifying scores with the program’s all-time second-highest score in the platform event over the weekend.
MEN
*Sophomore Adnan Beji delivered an unbeaten weekend in the breaststroke with wins in the 100 and 200 breast, which he paired with a fifth-place 200 IM finish.
*Sophomore Andrew Navarro finished with a team-best 67 points behind a win in the 200 fly, third-place finishes in the 1650 free and 500 free, along with a fourth-place finish in the 200 free.
*Freshman Hilton Aitken had a breakthrough 60-point weekend, taking second in the 200 free, fourth in the 500 free, and fifth in both the 400 IM and 1650 free.
*Sophomore diver Dima Tereshchenko poured out an additional pair of victories on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards.
THE RUNDOWN – WOMEN
*In the 200 back, Lovell notched her third top-5 finish of the meet, coming in fifth with a time of 2:02.53. Her Rebel freshman counterpart Scarlett Cao also competed in the event’s final with an 11th-place finish (2:04.54).
*Contributing a pair of Scarlet & Gray top-15 finishes in the 100 free, sophomore Bridget Sullivan (52.15) and junior Malia Fernandez swam to respective 14th-place and 15th-place finishes. Senior Alexia Taylor-Arredondo served up another Rebel highlight in the 100 free, winning the event’s ‘D’ final in 52.57 seconds.
*Claiming three more top-10 Rebel finishes in the 200 breast, junior Ruby Howell (2:16.62), freshman Jillian Moses (2:16.73) and junior Tosia Iwanowska (2:17.60) took fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
*Representing the Rebels in the ‘A’ final of the 200 fly, senior Gabby Lizzul (2:03.69), senior Teneka Ash (2:03.92) and junior Blanka Bokros (2:04.81) notched respective finishes of fourth, fifth, and sixth place. Their Scarlet & Gray counterpart in junior Calysta Bartlett (2:04.76) pulled out a win in the event’s ‘B’ final, placing ninth overall.
*Bokros also contributed a sixth-place finish (57.86) in the 100 IM.
*The Scarlet & Gray’s ‘A’ 400 free relay squad (Cohen, Klimek, Sullivan, Fernandez) clocked a third-place time of 3:25.08, holding off a late push from NMSU (3:25.21) in fourth and NAU (3:25.42) behind Fernandez’s valiant 50.72-second anchor leg.
THE RUNDOWN – MEN
*In a 200 breaststroke final featuring the WAC’s top-2 fastest swimmers this season, sophomore Adnan Beji (1:58.38) outlasted the league’s top-ranked Jonathan Reiter (1:59.83) from California Baptist with his final 50-yard split of 30.15 for the victory compared to the latter’s 31.92 final split.
*Capturing the 200 fly victory, the Rebel sophomore standout Andrew Navarro (1:48.71) overtook Cal Poly’s Brian Wong on the final 100-yard stretch for the win by just over three-tenths of a second.
*The men’s 1650 free had three Rebels inside the top 5 of finishers, including senior Cam Castro’s second-place finish (15:41.45), sophomore Andrew Navarro’s (15:46.71) third-place finish and freshman Hilton Aitken’s (16:10.02) fifth-place finish.
*In the 100 IM final, sophomore Bryson Huey glided his way to a third-place finish in 51.47 seconds.
*The Scarlet & Gray received a 1-2 sweep in the 200 back from junior McKay Mickelson and Aitken. Mickelson’s start-to-finish victory came off a time of 1:46.82, while Aitken tagged shortly after with a time of 1:49.72.
*As part of two top-5 finishes in the 100 free, junior Ratiu touched second with an NCAA ‘B’ cut (43.32) and super senior Reece Hemmens rounded out the top 5 in fifth place (45.02). Additionally, freshman Lucas Esenwein (45.30) chipped in a seventh-place finish in the event.
*Senior Steven Butler paced another UNLV 1-2 sweep in the 100 free ‘B’ final, claiming first in the heat with a 44.87-second swim en route to placing ninth overall. Freshman Charley Page-Jones (46.02) finished second in the heat and 10th overall.
*In the meet’s final race, UNLV’s ‘A’ squad (Ratiu, Bolanos, Butler, Hemmens) never trailed in their 400 free relay victory, as Ratiu’s quick start led off the quartet’s combined season-best time (2:55.44) in the event.
UP NEXT: The Rebels’ 2022-23 season picks up again on Wednesday, Jan. 7 when they head to Southern California for a dual against the No. 10 USC women’s team and No. 20 USC men’s squad.