OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- The final day of competition at the NAIA Swimming & Diving National Championships concluded with a huge national honor for Biola University.
 
The Eagles' star junior Christine Tixier won her third individual national championship of the meet to be named the NAIA National Swimmer of the Year.
 
"When I started coaching at Biola 10 seasons ago I never would have imagined in my wildest dreams that we would have a national swimmer of the year," said Head Coach Eddie Shepard. "God has blessed our program and the hard work that our student-athletes have put into Biola swimming. I am extremely proud of Christine and her accomplishments in and out of the pool."
 
The big award was given to Tixier following her third consecutive strong day as she finished a rigorous event schedule that should result in her sleeping for the next five days straight.
 
The Benton City, Wash. native placed first in the preliminary and finals races of the 200-butterfly today to win her fifth career NAIA national championship. She swam a 2:01.53 in the process to shatter her own school record and nearly set a new NAIA record.
 
She broke another school record when she posted a :53.11 in the leadoff to the 400-Freestyle relay. This became the newest 100-freestyle record, breaking a mark that had been standing since 2010. Victoria Turner, Megan Nerund and Angela Kirschner joined her for that relay, and they combined to set a new Biola record in that event (3:34.92), while finishing seventh overall.
 
Chad LeJeune broke his teammate Austin Sarna's record in the 200-breaststroke with his 2:09.53 swim in an 18^th place effort.
 
"We could not have asked for a better end to our season," said Shepard. "I feel so blessed to have coached such an amazing group of swimmers. While swimming is an individual sport, the truly successful programs work as a team to achieve their goals."
 
The women's team matched its program-best finish from last season with another seventh-place mark, while the men came in at 11^th place overall.
 
En route to those finishes the Eagles broke school records with 14 different swims, and Tixier's three championships gave Biola three All-American honors as well.