UNLV senior Vuk Celic won the WAC championship in the 500 freestyle Thursday in record fashion, smashing the WAC Championships and school records.
The Serbian grad student (and national record-holder/Olympic A-cut holder) went 4:16.75 in the finals, an improvement from 4:20.19 in the morning prelims. The time is a UNLV record and it downs the time of 4:17.23 set in 2014 by Mitchell Huxhold of Cal State Bakersfield. (Huxhold retains the outright conference record of 4:16.71 from NCAAs that year.)
Celic’s splits:
23.52 – 25.54 – 25.84 – 26.10 – 26.09 – 26.09 – 26.19 – 26.16 – 25.94 – 25.28
??RECORD ALERT?? @VukCelic goes all the way in the 500 free for the title with both the new UNLV program record and @WACsports Championship meet record ⌚️with a swim of 4:16.75‼️#JustGoOff #BEaREBEL #WACsd pic.twitter.com/C29uMvFe2e
— UNLV Swim & Dive (@UNLV_Swim_Dive) February 26, 2021
The time is also an NCAA B cut, one of four in the race. UNLV monopolized the top five spots in the race, with Christopher Mykkanen second and Panos Bolanos filling out the podium. Unsurprisingly, Vuk Celic led the way to a win in the 800 free relay Wednesday with Mykkanen, Bolanos and Bryan Chavez.
UNLV also went 1-2 in the 50 free, with Reece Hemmens outtouching teammate George Ratiu by .02 in an NCAA B cut of 19.91. Those two, with Ratiu going out in 19.94 and Hemmens anchoring in 19.04, helped the Rebels win the 200 free relay in 1:18.42.
? PHOTO FINISH‼️?♂️Reece Hemmens makes a HUGE splash ?? after making a late push to become the @WACsports 50 free champion ? with a mark of 19.91??#JustGoOff #BEaREBEL #WACsd pic.twitter.com/5md7EHWDUX
— UNLV Swim & Dive (@UNLV_Swim_Dive) February 26, 2021
After two days of the four-day meet, UNLV had a sizeable lead with 333 points to 212 for Air Force and 199.5 for Grand Canyon University.