UNLV Press Release
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The UNLV men's and women's swimming teams ended their trip to the Golden State in a winning fashion, sweeping a dual meet at Bakersfield on Saturday afternoon at the Hillman Aquatic Center. The Rebels claimed the men's meet by a score of 155-143, while the women topped the Roadrunners 181-119.
UNLV claimed seven individual wins and split the relay events in the men's meet. Leading the way was double-event winner Tom Paco-Pedroni. Paco-Pedroni swept his freestyle events, the 100 in 44.92 and the 200 in 1:42.48. The other freestyle winners came from Or Sabatier in the 50 free (20.88) and Ethan Klein in the 1000 free (9:52.26), while the other winners on the day included Dylan Tarazona and Avi Cohen won the 100 (49.80) and 200 (1:53.06) butterfly, respectively, while the other winner on the day came from Francois Van Wynsberghe in the 200 breast with a time of 2:07.40. Sabatier, Tom Paco-Pedroni, Tarazona and Kasey Foley won the 200 free relay, with a time of 1:23.48.
“These were important wins today, in what were challenging conditions,” said UNLV head coach Ben Loorz. “We were coming off of 10 days on the road, and the cold valley fog this morning made race preparation vital. The team did a nice job not making excuses, and stepped up to race well.”
The Rebel women were highlighted by triple-event winner Kyndal Phillips, who took first in the 100 (58.48) and 200 (2:06.72) backstroke as well as the 100 fly (57.51). Nine other Rebels claimed individual wins, including a sweep in the breast with Sofia Carnevale in the 100 (1:05.68) and Kristina Hendrick in the 200 (2:25.22). Another highlight was individual free events, claiming four out of five. Mayte Cano Figueroa started the day claiming the 1000 free with a time of 10:35.16 followed by Ida Schutt winning the 200 (1:53.19), Sydney Schuette winning the 50 (24.90) and Kelsey Wuoti claiming the 500 (5:06.77).
“This is a crucial part of the season,” said Loorz. “The "hay is in the barn" in terms of building our capacity. We are focused now on putting the finishing touches on our races and dives as we head toward our final two weeks of dual meet competition. This is the exciting part, as we begin to taper toward Conference, and the team looks better every week. This is exactly what we want.”
Other UNLV wins came from Kimberly Hendrick in the 200 butterfly (2:07.63) and Mykalla Fielding on the 1m board (267.68). A big key to the women's victory was its sweep of the relays. Phillips, Kristina Hendrick, Kimberly Hendrick, Carnevale posted a winning time of 1:48.07 in the 200 medley relay. UNLV then ended the meet with Carnevale, Schuette, Goezde Tekin, Schutt claiming the 200 free relay by .55 seconds in 1:39.18, just out-touching the Roadrunners’ squad.
UNLV will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 20, as the men's and women's swimmers will face UC Santa Barbara in a home dual meet at 5 pm at Buchanan Natatorium.
