Results: 2014 UNLV Winter Invitational

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Cal State East Bay concluded the UNLV Winter Invitational on Monday at the Buchanan Natatorium with a sixth place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Madison Hauanio, Alyssa Tenney, Rachel Shimizu, and Kali Kearns finished in 3:31.60 and more than six seconds faster than the program's season best time.

The East Bay 200-yard backstroke record was set twice on Monday starting with Mariam Lowe's morning prelims time of 2:03.66. She became the first Pioneer to break the 2 minutes, 4 seconds barrier and qualified for the championship finals in the event. Lowe would go on to finish seventh overall after appearing in her second individual "A" final of the meet.

Hauanio returned for the "B" final after dropping three seconds off her season best mark during the morning prelims. She went on to drop over two more seconds in the finals and placed 10th overall in a school record time of 2:03.30.

"The exciting thing is both of them have lots of improvement left ahead as we focus on Conference Championships in nine weeks," Head Coach Ben Loorz added.

Shimizu started and ended her day with solid swims following a 12th place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Her time of 17:43.58 is a season best and two seconds off her personal record. Teammate Hannah Cutts got up for 16th place to score for the Pioneers.

"It was beautifully swum, with excellent mechanics and pacing," added Loorz.

The consolation final of the 200-yard breaststroke was stacked with Pioneers as half of the field would be wearing "EB" swim caps. Courtney Schwiesow was the top East Bay swimmer finsihing runner-up in the heat and 10th overall in a time of 2:24.10. Not far behind were teammates Shaylyn Brownell (2:24.49) and Claire Beaty (2:24.74) who finished 12th and 13^th overall, respectively. Makila Schuck placed 16th to score for East Bay.

"Our 200 Breaststrokers had a great day with lots of season-best times in the morning, followed by continued drops at night. Shaylyn had a huge drop off her personal best to put herself up with our top 200 breaststrokers, Courtney and Claire. This was an exciting event," complimented Loorz.

UNLV (877.5) won its host meet on the women's side by more than 240 points. New Mexico (636), Northern Arizona (616.5), New Mexico State (554), and Pacific (522) round out the top five schools.

Caitlin DeNise finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle on Saturday. She finished 4th in the 100-yard butterfly and 11th in the 100-yard backstroke on Sunday. DeNise took runner-up in the 100-yard freestyle on Monday to close out the trip.