LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola closed out its 2014-15 regular season schedule with a strong showing at the Pacific Collegiate Swim & Dive Conference Championships. The women placed 11^th of 12 and the men sixth of seven in a competition spanning from NCAA DII, DIII and NAIA.
 
Saturday saw the Eagles add a few new national qualifying cuts and its final individual national qualifier for earl-March's NAIA Swimming & Diving National Championships. UC San Diego ran away with the conference titles on the men and women's side.
 
After coming within a couple tenths of a second of qualifying in a few other events earlier this week, Darrin Smith finally locked down his first national qualifying time of the season with a 1:00.24 in the 100-breaststroke.
 
"The most exciting moment of today was when Darrin got thaqt national cut," said Head Coach Eddie Shepard. "He'd been so close but never quite got the cut, but finally on his last opportunity at the meet he was able to get the cut with the entire team rooting for him."
 
In addition to the excitement of Smith getting that national cut, the meet was extra emotional as it was the final time this season that the entire team competes together. It was the seniors' final regular season meet and final time competing at Splash Aquatic Center.

"It was emotional for our seniors," said Shepard. "It was especially great getting to watch Marko Ausensi swim his last race with us after four years of hard work and dedication to the team."
 
One of those seniors, Megan Nerud, tacked on another race for herself at the national meet when she swam a :55.70 in the 100-freestyle time trials.
 
Dominique Kaijser got another national cut, making it three consecutive days of competition she's added a new mark. She swam a :55.70 in a 36^th-place finish in the 100-freestyle to expand her competition slate for nationals.
 
The final new national cut came from Victoria Turner. The sophomore touched just after Kaijser in the 100-freestyle (:55.90) to add another event.
 
"I am really optimistic for our success at nationals this year," said Shepard. "We will be taking a larger squad than we ever have, and I think that they are also stronger than any team we've ever put together.
 
Shepard was honored as the co-coach of the meet on the women's side.
 
He and the Eagles will rest a bit before turning the training up to full throttle for nationals, which begins in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 5.