UNLV swimmer narrowly misses medal

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2000 | 10:54 a.m.

UNLV sophomore swimmer Lorena Diaconescu nearly became the first Las Vegan to medal in Sydney, but Romania placed fourth in the women's 4x200 freestyle relay today.

Seeding third for the finals, Romania (8:01.63) finished behind the Olympic record-setting U.S. (7:57.80), Australia (7:58.52) and Germany (7:58.64).

Diaconescu, 21, the Mountain West female swimmer of the year, swam third for the Romanian foursome. The team was in second place after Kerstin Kielgass' opening leg, but faded to fifth during Simona Paduraru's swim and couldn't catch up with Diaconescu and anchor Beatrice Caslaru.

Diaconescu swam her leg in 2:01.47.

In its heat, Romania took second to the U.S. in 8:05.24 and was seeded behind the U.S. (8:01.69) and Australia (8:03.26) in the finals. Diaconescu swam her leg in 2:01.13.

On Saturday, Diaconescu swam in the 4x100 freestyle relay, but the Romanians placed sixth in their heat and did not advance.

After only one season at UNLV, Diaconescu owns five school records.