ST PETERS, Mo. --- Biola opened the 2011 NAIA Swimming and Diving National Championships with solid all-around showings on Thursday at the St. Peters Rec Plex Pool.
In a day which saw seven national championship records fall, the Eagles did their best to just keep up with the fast times. The speed did help Biola break a few records of its own.
The women's 200 Medley Relay team of
Amber Kiel,
April Smith,
Brittney Rosania and
Emily Mosbacher broke Biola's school record by almost a full second, making it into the finals heat seeded in 7th place with a time of 1:50.29. They finished 8th overall after the finals events this evening with a time of 1:50.95.
The women's 800 freestyle relay placed 8th overall. The team of Smith, Bailey Johnson, Monica Hurt and Kiel, barely broke the Biola record (by 3/100ths of a second) with a time of 7:54.01. Smith also posted a lead off time of 1:55.08, breaking her own previous 200 freestyle record.
Smith also broke her own 200 Individual Medley record by 3 seconds during prelims, touching the wall with the fastest time in the morning swim of 2:07.53. She dropped a bit more time off that and would earn All-American honors with a third-place finish in the evening finals at 2:07.31.
In the 500, Kiel, Alison Seek, and on the men's side, Nathan Roe bettered their season best times in the event with Amber swimming 15 seconds faster than her entry time.
For the men, the Biola men's 200 Medley Relay team of Chris Stutzman, Mark Diaz, Roe and Bretton Smith placed 12th, swimming a full second faster from their morning time, finishing with a time of 1:38.59.
The men also placed 11th in the 800 Freestyle relay. Stutzman, swimming the lead leg, barely missed the school's 200 freestyle record, though he will have another shot at it when he swims the individual event on Friday.
Stutzman also excelled in his 50 freestyle swim in prelims, making it back into the finals heat for the evening with a time of 20.86 and eventually placing 8th overall.
"This is the fastest nationals has ever been," said Biola Head Coach Brittany Sharpe. "Though we did not have a lot of our swimmers return to swim in finals, we had many swimming season and personal best times today and I look forward to what the next two days of competition will hold for our team."
Friday features the 100 breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly events along with the 200 freestyle and 400 individual medley. There will also be two relays contested: the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 medley relay.
Complete results can be found on the NAIA website at
http://naia.cstv.com/sports/w-swim/spec-rel/082310aaa.html.
