UNLV’s Nicusan, Vasquez sweep WAC weekly awards

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LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV swimming senior Daniel Nicusan was named WAC Swimmer of the Week and diving sophomore Alex Vazquez earned WAC Diver of the Week, the conference office announced Wednesday.

Nicusan, a native of Targu Mures, Romania, broke three school records and had three top-5 finishes at the Minnesota Invitational against multiple ranked teams. On the second day of competition, Nicusan set a program record in the men’s 200 IM (1:45.12) with a time that gave him an NCAA ‘B’ cut and a fourth-place finish. Later in the meet, he became the school record holder in 100 breast with his NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 52.11 that landed him in third place. On the final day, Nicusan set the program record in the 200 breast with an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 1:53.65 that placed him in third.

Additionally, Nicusan added three top-5 finishes in relay events, which included being the anchor leg of the 200 medley relay team that placed third (1:25.61), the lead-off leg of the 200 free relay squad that earned a fourth-place finish (1:19.51) and the anchor of the 400 medley relay group (3:10.31) that placed fourth.

Vazquez, a native of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, added program records in the 1-meter and the 3-meter events and won both at the Riverside Diving Invitational. On the opening day, Vazquez set the program record in the men’s 3-meter springboard twice. Originally, he broke the record in prelims with a score of 408.45, but went on to shatter that in his finals victory with a 453.95. On the final day of competition, Vazquez broke his own program record in the 1-meter event, diving to a score of 372.75 which landed him in first place.

UP NEXT: The UNLV men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will return to action at their annual UNLV Finis Invitational, which is set for Monday-Wednesday, Dec. 16-18.