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UNLV MEN AND WOMEN EARN CSCAA TEAM SCHOLAR AWARDS

UNLV MEN AND WOMEN EARN CSCAA TEAM SCHOLAR AWARDS

Both the UNLV men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs were named to the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association (CSCAA) Scholar All-America team for the Spring 2020 Semester, the national organization announced Tuesday. UNLV was one of 461 institutions that were named to the list, and this marks the eighth time in the last nine semesters that the Rebel women’s program has earned Scholar recognition.

CSCAA Executive Director Greg Earhart noted: “No team was unaffected by this Spring’s pandemic but Athletic Director Reed-Francois and President Meana can and should be proud of their team and the work of Ben with the Rebels.”

The Spring Team Scholar All-America award is presented to college and university swimming and diving teams who have achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or higher in the semester/quarter coinciding with the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

The CSCAA will announce its individual Scholar All-Americans next week.

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UNLV MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING NEWS: Rebels Finish School-Record Tying 19th At NCAA Championships

UNLV

UNLV MEN’S SWIMMING FINISHES A SCHOOL-RECORD TYING 19th AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
 
Rebels scored in the meet’s final event to clinch a top-20 finish

Needing to score points on Saturday to have a chance at a top-20 finish, UNLV did exactly that in the final event with an 11th place relay performance, and the Rebels would finish in 19th place as the 2014 NCAA Men’s Swimming Championships concluded after three days at the Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center on the University of Texas campus. The Rebels finished the meet with 50 points, seven off the school record 57 scored by the 2010-11 squad, which also placed 19th at the national championships. The 2010-11 squad and this year’s team are the only two to post top-20 finishes in program history.
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The Rebels entered the championships ranked 15th in the 400 free relay, and lived up to that seed in the morning preliminaries with a time of 2:53.07. That would qualify them for the night consolations. Starting in lane #1, the Rebels were a surprise outside lane leader for the majority of the consolation heat before fading out near the end. The end result was still an impressive move up to 11th place thanks to a 2:52.36, a new UNLV and WAC record mark. That move up four spots, and the additional eight points to go with it, was the difference in the Rebels finishing 19th, ahead of 20th place Virginia Tech (46).

Making up the relay squad, the fourth of the meet from UNLV to score points and the third to earn Relay Honorable Mention All-American honors, was sophomore Tom Paco-Pedroni, sophomore Samuel Lameynardie, sophomore Dillon Virva and senior Giacomo Gremizzi.

California stormed past Texas on the final day to win the team title with 468.5 points, while the host Longhorns placed second with 417.5 points, and Florida was third with 387. UNLV was the only school from a non-power conference in the top 27 of the team standings.

Paco-Pedroni nearly scored points in a second event for UNLV on the final day, after finishing as the first alternate in the 100 free in the morning prelims. His time of 42.58, which was 17th overall and just .05 seconds away from a spot in the night consolations, set a new UNLV standard and broke a 17-year old WAC record, that had been held by Lars Frolander of SMU.

2014 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships
Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center
Austin, Texas

Saturday, March 29
Third Day Results

Team Scoring
19. UNLV – 50 points

Honorable Mention All-American status
400 Free Relay – Tom Paco-Pedroni, Samuel Lameynardie, Dillon Virva, Giacomo Gremizzi – 11th (2:52.36)

Other UNLV swims
100 Free – Tom Paco-Pedroni – 17th (42.58)

UNLV and WAC record swims
400 Free Relay – 2:52.36 (Tom Paco-Pedroni, Samuel Lameynardie, Dillon Virva, Giacomo Gremizzi)
100 Free – 42.58 (Tom Paco-Pedroni)

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UNLV MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING NEWS: Rebels Begin Quest For 2014 WAC Title On Wednesday

UNLV

 

UNLV MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING BEGINS QUEST FOR 2014 WAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
WEDNESDAY

Rebel dynasty looking for another title
The UNLV men’s swimming and diving team looks to add to its trophy collection this week, as the Rebels begin competition in the 2014 WAC Championships, held on Wednesday-Saturday at the Palo Alto Aquatics Center in San Antonio, Texas. Finals begin at 4:00 pm (PT) on all four days.

The championships will have both a live webstream video of the finals, as well as live official results for both morning and night sessions, which can be accessed through links on the UNLVRebels.com site. In addition, the results can be followed though the Meet Mobile app on handheld devices and tablets, which can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play. The live video will require a subscription of $6.95 or a full championship package can be purchased for $10.95.

More information and how to subscribe to these video streaming events can be found at www.WACSports.tv.

 

All About The Rebel Men

• UNLV has won eight conference championship meets in the past nine seasons, including the final seven years of the Mountain West. The Rebels’ streak was narrowly broken in 2012 at the MPSF championships, but UNLV came back to win the 2013 MPSF title, before moving to the WAC for the 2013-14 season.

• UNLV comes into this week’s meet with the top seed in the following events: 50 free (Dillon Virva), 200 fly (Balint Batka), 100 (David Szele) and 200 breast (Brandon Meier), 100 back (Henrique Machado), 400 IM (Giacomo Gremizzi), 200 and 400 medley relays and the 200 and 400 free relays.

• Virva currently ranks sixth in the nation in the 50 free, while the 200 free relay is 19th, the 400 free relay is 20th, the 200 medley relay is 19th and the 400 medley relay is 27th. All ranks are current as of Feb. 24, and includes times set in last week’s SEC Championships, which featured five top-25 squads.

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UNLV MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING NEWS: Rebels Move Back Into Top 25 At No. 23

UNLV MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING MOVES BACK INTO TOP 25 RANKINGS AT No. 23  

Thanks to an impressive showing in the UNLV Fall Invitational, the UNLV men’s swimming and diving team has moved back into the CSCAA (College Swim Coaches Association of America) Top 25 rankings, as the Rebels are No. 23 in this week’s poll which was released on Thursday morning. Previously the Rebels were ranked 25th in the the second set of the bi-weekly rankings that came out on Nov. 6.

The Rebels posted several national top 20 times at the three-day UNLV Fall Invitational that was held on Nov. 21-23, where the Rebels came in second place to then No. 5 Stanford. Sophomore Dillon Virva is currently tied second in the nation in the 50 free with a school record time of 19.37, while four Rebel relays are ranked in the top 20. The 200 free and 200 medley relays are both ranked 11th in the nation, while UNLV’s 400 free relay has the 15th fastest time this season, and the 400 medley relay comes in at 20th.

UNLV returns to action with a road dual meet on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 10 am at UC Santa Barbara.

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UNLV MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING NEWS: Rebel Men’s Swim Program Moving To The WAC In 2013-14

UNLV

 

UNLV MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING TO JOIN THE WAC STARTING IN THE 2013-14 SEASON

Rebels will be joining their third conference in the last four years

The UNLV men’s swimming and diving team is pleased to announce that the Rebels are making the move from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation to the Western Athletic Conference beginning in the 2013-14 season, as the WAC announced on Thursday that it would be adding the sport of men’s swimming to the conference.

UNLV spent the past two seasons in the MPSF after the Mountain West discontinued sponsorship of the sport, and were the MPSF champions this past season, the eighth overall conference championship in the last nine years for the Rebels. Looking to find a situation in which the Rebels would not be forced to split coaching staffs during the conference championship meet season, the move to the WAC offers that benefit for not only UNLV but also Air Force and Wyoming, which are joining the Rebels in making the switch. The 2014 championship meet for the WAC will be held on Feb. 26-March 1 at the Palo Alto College Aquatic Center in San Antonio, Texas, exactly one week after the Mountain West Women’s Swimming Championships will be held at the same site.

“We’re excited to be moving to a new conference for our men’s program, especially in terms of talking about the conference championship meet, with Palo Alto being a fast and outstanding venue,” said UNLV Head Men’s Swimming Coach Jim Reitz. “It’s also important to our program to have our men’s league meet in the same location as our women, while the competition we’ll face will be at least equal if not better then the past two seasons. I’m also happy to have Air Force and Wyoming make the move with us. They have been competitive rivals for our team since the beginning of the MW, and I’m glad to see that continue into the WAC.”

Next year’s WAC membership includes three full-time members that sponsor men’s swimming and diving; CSU Bakersfield, Grand Canyon and Seattle. Joining these schools will be affiliate members Air Force, UNLV, North Dakota and Wyoming giving the WAC seven teams in 2013-14. North Dakota is already a women’s swimming and diving affiliate member.

“We are excited about the reinstatement of men’s swimming and diving to the Western Athletic Conference,” said Jeff Hurd, WAC Interim Commissioner. “We look forward to one of our original sports returning to the WAC and watching these teams work toward winning a conference championship.”

This will be the second time that the WAC has sponsored men’s swimming and diving as the sport was part of the conference from its inaugural 1962-63 season through 1999-2000. Three of the programs joining the WAC this upcoming year competed previously in the conference. Wyoming was an original member during all but one of those years while Air Force was added in 1980 and UNLV joined in 1996.