LONG BEACH -- The UNLV men and BYU women won the UC Irvine/Nike Cup Saturday night at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool.

The UNLV men won with 1249.5 points beating Air Force with 1096.5 points. BYU took third with 852.5 points. The host Anteaters finished fourth with 741 points.

The BYU women won with 1076 points ahead of second place San Jose State with 954. UNLV took third with 850 points. UCI took 12th with 262 points.

John Mendoza of UNLV won the 1650 with a NCAA 'B' cut time of 15:12.10. Kier Maitland took second with another 'B' cut of 15:19.07. Anteater senior Randall Tom (Wailuku, Hawaii/Seabury Hall) won the 200 fly with a 'B' cut time of 1:44.57.

On the women's side, the victorious Cougars won three of the six events on the final day.

Sophomore Rachel Grant broke the MWC record in the 400 IM with a time of 4:18.37, winning the event. Grant also won the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.65.

Other winners include Natasha Menezes in both the 1650 free and 500 free with respective times of 16:53.44 and 4:50.95. Candice Smith also placed first with a time of 1:59.14 in the 200 back.

The 200 and 400 free relay teams also finished first overall. For the 200 free relay was Sara Jayne Christiansen, Kirsty Ferrell, Leilani Roberts and Aleesha Miller touching the wall with a time of 1:33.62. For the 400 free relay was Ferrell, N. Menezes, Christiansen and Miller with a time of 3:24.39.

Men's UCI/Nike Cup Final Standings

1. UNLV 1249.5

2. Air Force 1096.5

3. BYU 852.5

4. UC Irvine 741

5. UC San Diego 679.5

6. Pacific 477.5

7. Cal State Bakersfield 459.5

8. Cal Baptist 446

9. Cal State Northridge 295

10. Concordia-Irvine 263

11. Grand Canyon 224

12. Chapman 90

13. La Verne 26

14. Soka 13.5

Women's UCI/Nike Cup Final Standings

1. BYU 1076

2. San Jose State 954

3. UNLV 850

4. UC San Diego 817.5

5. Nevada 733

6. Pacific 559

7. Loyola Marymount 383

8. New Mexico 368

9. San Diego 333

10. Pepperdine 308

11. Alaska-Fairbanks 281

12. UC Irvine 262

13. Air Force 230.5

14. Cal Baptist 200

15. Cal State Bakersfield 161.5

16. Cal State Northridge 144

17. Concordia-Irvine 112

18. Grand Canyon 72

19. Soka 58

20. Chapman 24

21. La Verne

Divers Finish Strong at Wildcat Invitational

by Jackie Johnson

BYU Athletic Communications

TUCSON -- The BYU divers concluded the Wildcat Invitational at the University of Arizona with top scores from Ava Jackman and Emily Woods.

Woods finished fourth out of 40 divers in the 1-meter springboard with a point total of 272.10. Teammate Ava Jackman was close behind in sixth place with a score of 270.85 in the 1-meter finals.

Jackman also finished sixth on the 3-meter board for BYU, with a score of 267.30.

PROVO -- With two weeks of rest under their belts, the BYU swimmers and divers will travel to Long Beach, Calif., and Tucson, Ariz., respectively, for this week’s invitationals.

After being in Long Beach two weeks ago for the Lincoln Shootout, the swimmers will return for the Nike Cup for all day competition Thursday through Saturday.

"The Nike Cup is a meet that is watched by all the major national swimming organizations," BYU men's coach Tim Powers said. "We look at this meet as a good chance to see how our team performs in a three-day trial/final meet which is the same way the Mountain West Conference and NCAA Championships are structured."

The divers will travel to the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. for the Wildcat Diving Invitational which is also Thursday through Saturday.

The Nike Cup will take place at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool. The competition runs Thursday through Saturday with swimming beginning each day at 9 a.m. and finals running every night at 6 p.m.

The three-day trail/final meet consists of events being held on one day only with a preliminary round earlier in the day and the event finals in the evening.

There are also no restrictions on how many events swimmers can race in at the Nike Cup. As a result, the coaches will get a chance to look at how athletes will do in events that they do not usually swim in dual meets due to constraints on swimmer involvement.

Results for each day of the Nike Cup and Wildcat Invitational will be posted at www.byucougars.com/swimming_diving.