UNLV men bag MWC swimming title

The UNLV men’s swimming and diving team rolled to its fourth straight Mountain West Conference title, winning four events Saturday in Oklahoma City to finish with 800 points.

Brigham Young was a distant second at 642.5.

The women’s team also finished strong, taking second with 622 points, behind Brigham Young’s 763.

In the first men’s final contested on the final day of the four-day meet, Kier Maitland won the 1,650-yard freestyle in 15 minutes, 14.31 seconds, followed by teammates Johan Claar and John Mendoza in second and third.

Timothy Christian and Devin Phillips then went 1-2 in the 200 backstroke, followed by Richard Hortness’ 100 freestyle victory in a conference-record 43.52, besting former UNLV standout Joe Bartoch’s 43.63 mark of 2006.

In the next final, Jonas Andersson easily won the 200 breaststroke.

The UNLV women also scored a 1-2-3 finish, with Amanda Weinbrecht winning the 200 backstroke in 1:59.46, followed by Ana Dangalakova and Lisa Gillespie.

Kim Bonney won the 200 breaststroke in a conference-record 2:13.95, and the Rebels closed the meet with another MWC record, winning the 400 free relay in 3:21.27 with the team of Megan Hunt-Higgins, Bonney, Marva Harpak and Marina Sandback.

The Rebels then cleaned up on MWC awards, with Hortness and Bonney named the men’s and women’s swimmers of the year and Jim Reitz voted men’s coach of the year.

• WOMEN’S BASKETBALL — At Fort Worth, Texas, UNLV lost to Texas Christian 87-57 in a Mountain West Conference game.

The Lady Rebels (8-19, 4-10 MWC) made just three of their first 13 shots and trailed 30-11 with about six minutes left in the first half. UNLV pulled within 11 at halftime and was within 39-30 early in the second half, but the Horned Frogs (18-10, 11-3) went on a 15-1 run to put the game away.

Shamela Hampton had 13 points for UNLV, which lost its third straight game.

• TRACK AND FIELD — At Air Force Academy, Colo., UNLV finished eighth among nine teams at the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championships, scoring 33 points.

Texas Christian won the meet with 129 points.

On the final day of the meet, Charlotte Browning led the Rebels by taking fourth in the mile with a time of 5 minutes, 8.76 seconds.

Lekeisha Lawson and Lauren Johnson took fifth and seventh in the 60-meter dash, and Johnson was seventh in the 200.

Brittney Bullocks was sixth in the 400 and Kenya Polee seventh in the long jump. UNLV took sixth in the 4×440-yard relay.

• SOFTBALL — UNLV lost to Hawaii 5-2 in the Eller Media Stadium Classic.

Hawaii scored twice in the top of the first, but the Rebels (12-7-1) answered with a Rosa Ordaz two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to tie the score.

UNLV didn’t score again, though, and Hawaii put up a run in the second, third and seventh innings.

The Rebels later played California.

UNLV was coming off two wins Friday night: 5-4 over Western Kentucky and 12-1 over Pittsburgh, ending a three-game losing streak.

• BASEBALL — Xavier Scruggs hit three home runs, and UNLV racked up 22 hits in a 21-5 rout of Maine at Wilson Stadium.

Scruggs hit a three-run shot in the first inning, a solo homer in the fifth and another three-run bomb in the seventh, finishing with seven RBIs and five runs scored.

Corey Hales got the win for UNLV (4-3), allowing one unearned run on five hits.

• MEN’S TENNIS — UNLV beat Weber State 6-1 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex, then beat Utah State 5-2 at the Darling Tennis Center.

Against Weber State, the Rebels (5-3) won five of six singles matches, all in straight sets. At No. 1, Elliot Wronski beat Henning Hipp, 7-6, 6-2.

Against Utah State, Wronski paced four singles wins with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Jakob Asplund.