LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Swimming & Diving had its most successful trip to the NAIA Swimming & Diving National Championship in program history, claiming three national championships, 20 All-American honors and 17 new school records.
 
When the student-athletes are not waking up before the sun rises to go to morning practice, running the creek or competing at Splash Aquatic Center they are studying to become nurses, engineers, scientists, teachers and much, much more.
 
That studying resulted in seven Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors among the members of Head Coach Eddie Shepard's team. In order to earn this national honor, the student-athlete must be a junior or senior with a cumulative grade point average above 3.5.
 
"I'm always proud of the strong academic tradition we have in our swim program," said Head Coach Eddie Shepard. "It shows a lot about who they are as people because of how successful they are academically and athletically.
 
Five members of the women's side, which just placed seventh at nationals, were honored by the NAIA: Elle Reed, Megan Nerud, Abby Blake, Angela Kirschner and Christine Tixier. The Eagles' five honorees comprise 10.5 percent of the total number of female student-athletes recognized with this award (47).
 
Two of the men, who placed 10^th at nationals, received the honor: Scott West and Matthew Flodin. Biola's two Scholar-Athletes on the men's side comprised 7.5 percent of all the men's student-athletes to be honored by the NAIA, as just 27 athletes earned the award.
 
Nerud, Tixier and West all became two-time recipients of this honor, which is the maximum number of times an NAIA student-athlete can win the award.