The Nevada women and Pacific men are on top after day one of the UNLV Invitational.
UNLV Press Release
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV Swimming and Diving kicked off its three-day home meet on Thursday, hosting four schools at the UNLV Winter Invite at the Buchanan Natatorium.
After a round of preliminaries in the morning and finals in the evening, the Rebel men finished with 236 points and the Rebel women finished with 224 points, both totals good for third place heading into day two.
The first event of the evening was the 200 freestyle relay. On the women's side, Sophia Carnevale, Ida Schutt, Sydney Schuette and Kyndal Phillips took third with a time of 1:33.76 while the men's relay team of Or Sabatier, Kasey Foley, Joe Starkweather and Forrest Beesley also took third after turning in a time of 1:20.19.
In the 500 individual freestyle event, Ethan Kelin was the top finisher for the Rebels with an eighth-place time 4:50.14. In the women's event, Josefine Hippi and Kristina Hendrick were fourth and sixth in the consolation heat with times of 5:04.13 and 5:05.44, respectively.
UNLV placed two in the top six of both the women's and men's 200 individual medley. In the women's event, Phillips earned a third-place time of 2:03.15 and Schutt took sixth with a time 2:04.64. For the men, Francois Van Wynsberghe clocked a time of 1:53.32 for fifth place, followed by Christopher Havton in sixth with a 1:53.81.
The Rebels' top-finisher in the women's 50 freestyle was Carnevale, who took fifth with a time of 23.54, while Foley turned in the men's best finish in the 50 freestyle with a 20.13, which was good for third place.
The swimming portion of the night concluded with the 400 medley relays. The women were up first and UNLV scored its second third-place relay finish of the day as the "A" relay group of Phillips, Carnevale, Goezde Tekin and Schutt teamed up for a time of 3:54.84. For the men, the "A" relay squad of Beesley, Van Wynsberghe, Collin Moore and Austin Hussain took fourth place after registering a time of 3:19.31
Two diving events were held on day one - the women's three meter and the men's one meter. UNLV's Alyssa Arnett took the top spot in the three meter after posting a score of 295.20, followed by Katie Bezte in third with a 242.70, Kourtney Clark in fifth with a score of 239.90 and Chrysoula Gatsios in sixth with a 227.20. Robert Morgan delivered the best Rebel performance in the men's one meter, taking third with a 295.15. UNLV's Alexander Rojas placed fifth in the event with a score of 180.05.
After day one, Nevada, Reno is on top of the women's standings with a score of 278 while University of the Pacific is in first place on the men's side with a total score of 331.
Pacific Press Release
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - In the first day of the three-day UNLV Invitational, the Pacific Tigers found themselves atop the leaderboards, with the men in first and the women in second. The men won four of the five events on the day, with the women picking up two wins as well.
In the relays, Pacific took home two wins, both by the men, as well as a second-place finish. Mitchell Ongstad, Yahav Shahaff, Lane Goedhart, and Miles MacKenzie won the 200 Free Relay for the men with a 1:18.62 while Kenna Ramey, Becca Aguilar, Jillian Hatch, and Vaiva Gimbutyte took second with a 1:32.34 on the women's side.
The men also won in the 400 Medley Relay, with Makoa Haneberg, Stewart Harrison, Shahaff, and Ongstad putting up a 3:12.33 that was more than five seconds faster than the competition.
Ongstad also won the 50 Free individually, swimming a 19.68. The Tigers swept that event as Kenna Ramey won it for the women with a 22.91. Shahaff took second for the men at 20.02 and Gimbutyte took second for the women at 23.07.
The 200 IM also saw Pacific come away with two wins. Whitney Jorgensen swam a 2:00.36 for the win while Neil Franka swam a 1:48.04 for the men to win the event.
Curtis Klein also took third in the 500 Free for the Tigers with a 4:33.00.
The UNLV Invitational continues tomorrow and will finish up on Saturday, going all day both days.
Fresno Pacific Press Release
LAS VEGAS – Freshman Laura Fornshell broke the school record in the 500 freestyle as Fresno Pacific opened competition at the Winter Invite on Thursday. The three-day meet is taking place at the Buchanan Natatorium on the campus of UNLV.
"It was a great first day for us," said head coach Josh Christensen. "We had many lifetime bests and accomplished some of our goals. We are looking forward to taking momentum into tomorrow."
Prior to Thursday's finals, the Sunbirds set the tone for the day with 13 lifetime bests, three new top-five swims and six NCAA B-cuts during the preliminaries.
In the evening, Fornshell highlighted the finals with a fourth-place finish in the 500 free with a record time of 4:56.08. The time broke the longest standing record at FPU which dated back to 2008. The time also marked an NCAA B-cut.
Bavindeep Basra also provided the Sunbirds with a strong swim in the 200 IM, as the junior took fourth with a time of 2:04.38 for a B-cut. Teammate Daria Belova was seventh in the 200 IM at 2:05.27 for a B-cut as well.
Olivia Hynes also placed sixth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.75, which is good for fifth quickest all-time at FPU and a B-cut.
For the relays, the 200 freestyle team of Hynes, Woo, Matlyn Morris and Belova touched at 1:34.07 for an NCAA provisional mark in fourth place. The 400 medley relay team of Olga Melnikova, Belova, Basra and Samantha Woo placed third with a touch of 3:47.10 (provisional).
The women totaled 217 points and currently sit in fourth after day one. Nevada sits in first with 278 points.
For the men, Duston Gragg highlighted the day with a win in the 1-meter diving event with 269.30 points. For the swimming events, Maxim Shcherbakov took fourth in the 200 IM with a touch of 1:51.68. The time is fourth all-time at FPU.
Other strong swims came from Luka Barisic, who came in fifth in the 50 free with a touch of 20.30 (B-cut), Alex Shibata, who was eighth in the 200 IM at 1:54.85, and Nathan Bruner, who took seventh in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:39.63.
For the relays, the 200 freestyle team of Barisic, Austin Hussain, Seth Nabors and Zach Koch touched in fourth at 1:22.12 for a NCAA provisional mark. The 400 medley relay team of Barisic, Shcherbakov, Collin Moore and Hussain placed third at 3:18.85 (provisional).
The men sit in fourth with 227 points, while Pacific is in the lead with 331 points.
The Sunbirds continue action on Friday with prelims in the morning.
