LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Hosting its first home meet while school was in session, Biola's swimmers benefitted from a big crowd and posted some of their best swims of the season despite dropping the dual meet against Azusa Pacific on Saturday morning.

Senior Amber Kiel and freshman Christine Tixler each won a pair of events to highlight the strong showing by the Eagles. The meet ended with a big victory in the 400 free relay. However, Azusa Pacific picked up the win 142-96, though the score was closer this year than in the previous seasons.

"I think that we swam stronger than we have yet this year," said Head Coach Eddie Shepard. "Most everyone swam best times for the year, and we were competitive with Azusa Pacific in most of the events. It was great to have a home meet and have so many people there to cheer on our swimmers."

Kiel took top honors in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:04.95, edging out teammate Monica Hurt by just under a second. She repeated the feat in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall in 1:02.68.

Christine Tixler picked up individual victories in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:40.55 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.79. She also swam the lead leg of the 400 freestyle relay which Biola won to close out the meet. Rachael Sirjord, Hurt and Kiel also swam on the relay, which beat out its Azusa Pacific counterpart by six seconds.

Biola returns to the pool on Saturday, Nov. 12, swimming at the University of Redlands Bulldog Invitational.