UNLV sophomore ready to make waves at NCAA meet
Cody Roberts was all set to go to Washington and swim for its nationally ranked program, but a month before his high school graduation in 2009, he received a text message that changed his plans.
The Huskies were dropping swimming, and the stunned Roberts suddenly had nowhere to go.
UNLV coach Jim Reitz knew he had an opportunity, and five days later he was sitting at the dinner table in Roberts’ Washington home, trying to sell him and his parents on the Rebels and, more importantly, Las Vegas.
Reitz got his man, and now Roberts is on the verge of putting together one of the top individual seasons in UNLV history. He is ranked fourth in the 100-meter butterfly entering the NCAA Championships, which begin Thursday in Minneapolis.
His best time this season is 45.70 seconds, just a hair behind his competition for third place, a 45.69 clocked by Michigan’s Sean Fletcher. The top two swimmers, Stanford’s Austin Staab and California’s Thomas Shields, are roughly a second faster, and Roberts is realistic about his low chances of catching them.
“It’s going to take quite the effort, probably a minor miracle for a win,” Roberts said. “But I can definitely take third.”
Bart Pippenger finished second in the 200 fly in 1989 and 1990, the closest a Rebel has come to winning a swimming national championship. Roberts, a sophomore who was this season’s Mountain West Conference Swimmer of the Year, could make a real run at the title the next two years.
A strong finish this week also would help propel UNLV as a team, which is ranked a school-best 16th. Reitz said the Rebels could finish as high as ninth.
In addition to Roberts, senior Kier Maitland — the MWC’s top swimmer the previous two seasons — in the 1,650 freestyle and junior Andrew Morrell in the 100 breaststroke could place high.
Roberts, whose mother, Marilee, swam at Washington State from 1977 to 1980, was slow to embrace the sport when he began swimming 11 years ago. His true love as a 9-year-old living in frigid Fairbanks, Alaska, was baseball.
“It can really be a boring sport some days,” Roberts said of swimming. “There are not many places you can go in a pool. But I got better in this sport when I was 11, and baseball kind of disappeared once I fell in love with this sport.”
He first showed potential when he broke 30 seconds in the 50 freestyle at a 2002 swim meet in Federal Way, Wash.
Roberts eventually got Washington’s attention when he helped lead Richland (Wash.) High School to three state titles. But when the Huskies discontinued swimming, Roberts worried about where he would attend college.
UNLV and Air Force quickly entered the picture. Reitz flew to Spokane, Wash., and drove two hours to the family home in West Richland, in the Tri-Cities area near the Oregon state line.
Roberts’ father, Charles, preferred the Academy because he’s an Air Force veteran. Going to Air Force, however, meant a post-graduate service commitment, and Roberts wasn’t prepared to make that pledge.
His parents weren’t ready to say yes to UNLV.
Reitz, in his home visit, told them his priorities are God, family, school and swimming, in that order.
“I’m so impressed with UNLV’s program because it’s a hard decision to send an 18-year-old young man to Las Vegas,” Marilee Roberts said.
Reitz, though, doesn’t just sell athletes. He said he has at least twice dropped scholarship offers in swimmers’ homes when he believed the parents weren’t being properly respected.
After dinner with the Roberts, Reitz watched Cody get up and, without being asked, clear the table and load the dishwasher. Any concern about Roberts’ ability to handle responsibilities was alleviated.
“I’m still having fun after 31 years, in large part due to very careful recruiting,” Reitz said.
Roberts’ once-skeptical parents also were careful, but now they’re sold.
“(Reitz) promised me he wouldn’t get in trouble,” Marilee Roberts said. “If they ever need somebody to market UNLV athletics, they can come to me.”
Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914.
