UNLV notebook: Diaconescu excels at NCAAs

Thursday, March 23, 2000 | 9:48 a.m.

UNLV sophomore Lorena Diaconescu earned a fifth-place finish in the finals of the 200 meter free at the NCAA Championships last weekend in Minneapolis.

Diaconescu, who posted a time of 1:58.38 in the 200 free, also finished 24th in the 100 free (56.09), 17th in the 400 free (4:13.30) and set personal bests in all three events.

Diaconescu became the second-highest finisher in school history at the NCAAs behind Sally Fleisher, who took third in the 50 free in 1986. She also became the only swimmer in UNLV history to qualify and place in three events for NCAA competition in a single season.

* MEN'S SWIMMING: The men's team is sending a school-record five swimmers to compete in the NCAA Championships, which begin today at the University of Minnesota's Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

Jacint Simon will compete in the 200 and 400 free, 200 fly and 400 free relay; Bobby Middleton will swim the 100 breast; Micheal Short will compete in the 100 free and 400 free relay; Piotr Krzyskow will swim the 100 free and 400 free relay; and Garrett Wood will swim in the 50 free and 400 free relay.

* WOMEN'S TENNIS: The Rebel women won three of four three-set singles matches and beat Oregon, 6-3, Wednesday at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

At the No. 1 spot, 41st-ranked Katarina Malec won her eighth straight match, 6-2, 6-2, over 87th-ranked Alina Wygonowska and improved here record to 28-5.

Prior to the match, Malec was named the Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week for the third time in two months.

* MEN'S TENNIS: The Rebels will play their second conference foe, Utah, Friday afternoon at 1:30 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

UNLV's lone conference match resulted in an upset of New Mexico.

* BASEBALL: The Rebels, 7-21 overall and 0-6 in the Mountain West Conference, host New Mexico in a three-game conference series beginning Friday at 7:05 p.m. at Wilson Stadium.

The Lobos bring a 15-12 overall record and 4-1 conference mark into the series.

* TRACK AND FIELD: UNLV will open the 2000 outdoor season Saturday at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. The two-day event will feature area high schools and more than 20 collegiate teams.

* MEN'S SOCCER: Senior goalkeeper Ryan Bledsoe and sophomore midfielder Andrew Hooker have been named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII Fall /Winter At-Large Team.

Bledsoe was chosen to the district's first team and will appear on the ballot for the national Academic All-America team next month. Hooker was named to the second team.