LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola University's swim teams got off to strong starts with impressive performances at a pair of season-opening individual meets in Riverside and Malibu over the last three weeks.

The Eagles competed at the PCSC relay/pentathlon meet on Oct. 10-11, and then swam at the Malibu Invitational on Oct. 25.

Biola Head Coach Eddie Shepard was very pleased with the performance of his swimmers at these early season meets.

“All the kids swam extremely well for this early in the season," said Shepard. "I was really impressed with how strong everyone looked, and how many of our swimmers got NAIA National qualifying times.”

The Eagles strength and size has increased this year as they are joined by a large group of freshman. On the women's side, Jen Baran, Abbi Bergen, Kim Gallagher, Amber Kiel, Brittney Rosania, and Rachael Sirjord have joined the Squad. The returning men are joined by Jacob Frischknecht, Ryan Hanson, Arek O'Connell, Andrew Stuck, and Danny Weber.

Coach Shepard believes that this group of young talent, combined with the experience of his returning swimmers, gives this year's team a huge amount of potential. In fact, fourteen Biola swimmers have already qualified for the NAIA Swimming and Diving Nationals in March. These swimmers are: Ryan Hanson, Amber Kiel, Paul Mendoza, Emily Mosbache, Ben Oviedo, Alison Patt, Zachary Perkins, Jaclynn Petrilli, Brittney Rosania, Brian Shepard, Lindy Shields, Rachael Sirjord, April Smith, and Sarah Warkentin.

The Eagles will be returning to the pool this Saturday, Nov. 1st at the University of La Verne for the La Verne Invitational starting at 10:00 am.

Complete results from the first two meets of the season can be found below:

PCSC Relay Meet | PCSC Pentathlon Meet

Malibu Invitational Sprint Meet | Malibu Invitational Distance Meet