ST. PETERS, Mo. --- The Biola Swim team got off to a superb start to the three-day NAIA National Swimming and Diving Championships, setting seven school records and earning a number of top finishes on Thursday at the St. Peters Rec-Plex in St. Peters, Missouri.

The Biola women are currently tied for seventh place out of 18 teams while the men are ninth among 15 teams at the Championships.

The Eagle women were led by junior April Smith with senior Zach Perkins leading the way on the men's side. Both Perkins and Smith had outstanding individual swims and were integral parts of Biola's relay success.

In the morning session the women's team got off to a solid start with a school-record setting performance in the 200 Medley Relay. The team of Rachael Sirjord, April Smith, Brittney Rosania, and Emily Mosbacher swam a time that put them in ninth place heading into the evening session. In the finals, the squad improved on its morning swim, finishing in 1:51.22, good enough for ninth place.

Later in the morning, Smith shattered her own record in the 200IM by nearly two seconds and put herself in sixth place going into the evening swim. In the evening session, Smith improved slightly on her morning swim and managed to place on the podium with a sixth place finish with a 2:10.31. Also making it back to swim in the evening was Rosania, who finished with a 14th place finish overall and recorded a personal best time of 2:13.16 in the morning swim

The women also had a great swim in the 800 Free Relay, finishing sixth overall with a time of 7:54.04. The relay team of Smith, Amber Kiel, Bailey Johnson, and Katie McLeland broke the previous school record by nearly nine seconds. As the lead-off leg of the relay, Smith also set the school record in the 200 free by nearly two seconds with a time of 55.62.

On the men's side, there were equally notable performances. The men started out swimming well enough in the 200 Medley Relay to earn a spot in the console heat. The team of Chris Stutzman, Micah Perryman, Brian Shepard, and Zach Perkins came out at night and broke the team record in the event with a 1:36.95. They also managed to finish tenth as Perkins was out touched by seven one-hundredths of a second for the ninth-place spot.

In his individual race, Perkins swam a blistering 21.02 in the morning session, placing him in the console heat for the evening and breaking the school record by nearly three-tenths of a second. In the evening session, Perkins came out firing on all cylinders and became the first Biola swimmer to ever break the 21-second mark with a time of 20.91. His time was good enough to win the consolation heat, giving him ninth overall. 

Paul Mendoza also had a notable swim, making it to the console heat in the 500 free after taking off more than twelve seconds from his previous season best during his morning swim with a 4:44.81. Paul's swim during the evening was good enough to earn him a 15th place finish.

The final record broken in the first day of competition was the men's 800 free relay record. The team of Brian Shepard, Nathan Roe, Mendoza, and Chris Stutzman not only broke the school record but also managed to finish in 8th place with an impressive time of 7:03.11 in the final swim of the day.

Biola will be back in the pool on Friday for the second day of the championships. The events to be contested tomorrow will be the 100 backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, the 400 IM, the 200 free, and the 200 free and 400 medley relays.

Fans can follow the action from St. Peters live by visiting the official NAIA Championship website at http://naia.cstv.com/genrel/2010SWDChampionships.html.