Rebels’ Reitz faces balancing act for league swim meet

UNLV men's swim coach Jim Reitz will face a number of quandaries next week when he takes his team to Long Beach, Calif., to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championships.

At the top of his list will be finding a way to win an eighth consecutive league title without compromising his top swimmers' chances for success at next month's NCAA Championships in Seattle. But simply qualifying those swimmers for the national meet could prove to be an even tougher challenge.

"Making these decisions is stressful, whether you're right or wrong," said Reitz, who has been calling the shots at UNLV for 32 seasons. "But that's the sport. You go 100 percent, and you either make it or you don't."

The Rebels, who won seven consecutive Mountain West Conference championships before switching to the MPSF this season, appear to be the overwhelming favorites heading into the league meet, which begins Wednesday. But Reitz is hoping to qualify as many as 11 of his swimmers for the NCAAs, meaning they will have to swim through the conference event without the customary rest period.

"It's going to take what could have been a very one-sided meet and make it very close," Reitz said. "But we're risking it no matter what. The NCAAs are more important than conference."

Several of the team's younger swimmers will have to step up if UNLV is to preserve its winning streak. Reitz said he thinks they'll be able to pull it off.

"We're a blue-collar team," he said. "The guys do it by hard work. They're competitors, and I like that."

But Reitz has another problem. Only junior Cody Roberts has qualified with a guaranteed "A" time for the national meet.

The coach's grand plan for the season went south when his swimmers had a mediocre showing at the prestigious Texas Hall of Fame Invitational in December. Neither the 200-yard freestyle relay nor the 200 medley relay teams attained "A" times in the team's strongest events, despite the fact that the Rebels had tapered for the meet. The poor showing cost a total of five Rebels guaranteed NCAA invitations.

Now Reitz's athletes must wait to see whether their top times will be good enough to qualify for the national meet.

Roberts, who already has qualified for postseason competition in the 100 butterfly, admitted that nerves are running high.

"We're pretty nervous about it," said the 2010-11 Mountain West Swimmer of the Year. "We just try not to think about it. We want to know for sure if everyone's times are going to be good enough."

Senior Steven Nelms, who was a member of last year's NCAA 200 medley relay team, is among the Rebels who are uncertain about their postseason status.

"Of course there is a little anxiety," said Nelms, who will have to wait until March 4 to find out whether his team's time is fast enough to qualify for nationals. "But we're preparing for the NCAAs just the same as if we knew we were in. We'll be ready either way."

Therein lies the problem. With the relay swimmers gambling on postseason invitations, they will not be able to focus on next week's league meet.

Senior Andrew Morrell earned All-America honors as a member of last year's 400 medley relay team. Though he wants to return to the national meet, he is not willing to allow the championship streak to end.

"To have our streak broken would hurt," he said. "But the purpose of our sport is to win. Anytime you can win, it's a good thing. Hopefully we'll start a new streak (in the MPSF)."

Though Reitz knows there is a chance the plan will backfire, he remains committed to the plan he and his swimmers developed before the start of the season.

"It's all about training cycles," said Reitz, who qualified eight swimmers for postseason competition last year. "You simply can't peak twice in four weeks."

Jeff Wollard is a freelance reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at jwolly@aol.com.