Canadian invasion at UNLV

Friday, Jan. 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Jennifer Crowder and Mike Mintenko may be thousands of miles from home, but the Canadians are far from homesick while they study and swim at UNLV.

Crowder and Mintenko are two of seven Canadian-born swimmers attending UNLV on scholarship. Each had different reasons for leaving their homeland to attend college in the United States.

"In Canada, there are no scholarships," said Mintenko, a native of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. "You don't get full rides there and I think that's a big part of it."

Crowder, who hails from Whitby, Ontario, said she believes Canadian swimmers can develop their talents more fully in the States.

"There are good programs in Canada but the U.S., I find, is so much more advanced in their athletics," she said. "It's almost like they care more about their sports and their teams -- it's more team oriented. When I first came down here on recruiting trips, it was such a vast difference because in Canada it's more for the individual and down here it's more for the team."

Mintenko, who has posted an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying time in the 100-yard butterfly, said his decision to attend UNLV came down to a matter of where he could better develop his talents.

"For some people, they can do just as well back home. For me, it was a situation where I was the only senior-level athlete in my city," he said. "It came down to where I wanted to train and who I wanted to train with. It's a lot better training with 23 other guys (your age) than training with 8- and 9-year-olds."

Canadian club

Crowder and Mintenko join fellow Canadians Matthew Cardwell (Kirkland, Quebec), Wayne Linner (Regina, Saskatchewan), Kam Sengthavy (Toronto), Doug Wake (Regina) and Donna Wu (Richmond, British Columbia) on the Rebels swim team, which will host former Big West Conference rival UC Santa Barbara in a dual meet Saturday and Sunday at Buchanan Natatorium on the UNLV campus.

Mintenko said UNLV's "Canadian Connection" began after now-senior Cardwell was recruited by Rebels head coach Jim Reitz, then returned to Canada and started talking up the UNLV swim program.

"Matt Cardwell was probably the first Canadian here," Mintenko said. "Then came me, Jen and Cam and after that it was pretty much all of us spreading the word to other people back home. Now there are seven of us here."

Reitz said he and recruiting coordinator Bill Saxton rely on the word-of-mouth process rather than an active policy of recruiting in Canada.

Northern exposure

"We have never actively recruited internationally in terms of that being one of our goals," Reitz said. "In the early years of the program, we would get inquiries from around the world for kids who were interested in the hotel school because we are one of the top hotel schools in the world."

While the lure of a college scholarship may attract many Canadian swimmers to the States each year, Crowder said it has been her interaction with the UNLV coaching staff that makes living so far from home bearable.

"I have really enjoyed the personable aspects of the coaches here," said Crowder, a three-time Big West champion in the 100 breaststroke and the 1996 conference champion in the 200 breaststroke. "The coaches here are not always so businesslike like they are in Canada. They seem to really care about you as a person.

"Also, with so many other Canadians on the team, it doesn't make you as homesick."

Class acts

Reitz, who has seen swimmers such as Crowder and Mintenko blossom as students as well as athletes since coming to UNLV, said some of his Canadian recruits' success in the classroom has been more rewarding than their successes in the pool.

"We've never lost a kid to grades from Canada," he said. "Amazingly enough, they weren't all good students up there.

"The Canadian club swimming system takes kids out of school for weeks at a time and in many cases, I've been told there are no make-ups, no nothing. Our focus is and always has been on academics first."

And while Reitz said he will continue to pursue the Canadian Connection, he will not do it at the expense of his program's values.

"We're open to the entire world -- if they're good students and they fit into what our criteria is," Reitz said. "We don't get kids that don't want to work because they will not like me and they will not like my program. I want kids to come to UNLV for the right reasons ... and I can say that (about) this team."

ote "In Canada, there are no scholarships. You don't get full rides there and I think that's a big part of it." Mike Mintenko