LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola shook off the rust early on Friday afternoon, picking up a few national cuts and posting some good swims at the Pacific Collegiate Swim & Dive Conference (PCSC) Relays.
 
It was the Eagles' first meet of the season and Head Coach Eddie Shepard's first chance to take a look at his incoming talent and take stock of where their strokes are.
 
"I was really impressed with all of our freshmen on both sides," said Shepard. "I think we brought in a really strong freshman class, and as a whole they have really come together and performed well in their first meet ever for Biola."
 
One of those freshmen, Lisa Tixier, earned the first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national cut of her career. She led-off the 200-yard freestyle relay with a split of :25.25 to qualify for nationals in the 50-freestyle.
 
That should be the first of many national qualifying cuts for Tixier, especially if she swims anything like her older sister, Christine Tixier.
 
The reigning NAIA Female Swimmer of the Year earned her first national cut of 2014-15 by cruising to a :54.95 in a 100-freestyle split while starting the 400-freestyle relay. She led the Eagles' fastest relay group to a third-place finish in the final event of the day. Tixier combined with her sister, Angela Kirschner and another freshman, Victoria Dunbar, to post a 3:40.30.
 
Abby Blake was a returning swimmer who had a strong day. The junior had a difficult day, having to swim a little bit of everything, but she and her relay mates posted top-5 finishes in the 3x100 breaststroke, 800-freestyle and 500-freestyle progressive relays. She also swam in the 4x100 Individual Medley relay, literally getting to swim every stroke.
 
"I thought on the women's side, Abby Blake came out really strong, even stronger than I expected," said Shepard. "On the men's side, I think William Granberry swam really well."
 
Granberry competed in the 3x100-backstroke, 400-freestyle, 3x500 freestyle and 500-freestyle progressive relays. He swam 850 yards during the first day back to competitive swimming since early-March.
 
The Eagles put out a good effort in what was essentially a home meet for them at SPLASH! Aquatic Center, but they still have a lot to work on, as the men finished second of three teams and the women in sixth of six.
 
"I definitely think on some of the smaller areas, like turns, underwaters and stroke technique we could definitely do a lot of refining," said Shepard. "It's so early in the year we just haven't honed in on some of those smaller things that could use a lot of work. As we move through into the next couple of weeks those are some of the things we'll definitely work on."


There is no time to work on them now, though, as the Eagles get right back in the pool at SPLASH! tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. to compete in the PCSC Pentathlon.
 
The event will include many of the same teams as today, including: Azusa Pacific, Concordia and Fresno Pacific. Also joining the fun will be California Baptist and SOKA.