LOS ANGELES, Calif. --- Every year the La Verne Winter Invite is the biggest regular season meet for Biola Swim & Dive. After one day of competition at the 2016 iteration of this event it is clear that this year will not be much different.
 
Head Coach Emily Mosbacher's clan got seven national qualifying times (including two who already qualified but improved on their time) in the morning session and added two more in the evening session.
 
The Eagles qualified 10 different swimmers for 18 evening finals after the morning's preliminary swims and excelled when it came time to compete in that finals competition.
 
"We have rested this week going into this meet, so we hope to keep this momentum going," said Mosbacher. "The team looks strong, and we are expecting great things throughout the rest of this weekend."
 
The men and women's teams combined for top-5 finishes, including individual swims and relays. Lisa Tixier led the way with a first-place finish in the 200-IM (2:04.05).
 
What was even more impressive than where each swimmer placed in the finals was how much improvement their was in between the morning and evening swims.
 
Emily Silzel, who set a new season-best in the 500-fresstyle earlier in the day, dropped 10 seconds between prelims and finals to finish fifth with a 5:11.17.
 
Bethany Harper dropped five seconds in the very same event and lodged a top-10 finish with a 5:16.84. She qualified for nationals in the 500-free with her swim in prelims.
 
Rachel Stinchcomb also had a five second drop, but it came in an event where such a drop is even more challenging to achieve. She improved upon her 2:14.89 in the morning 200-IM by swimming a new season-best 2:09.94 at night.
 
Joining Silzel, Stinchcomb and Harper with new nationals cuts in the morning swims was: Sammy Dammann (200-IM – 2:14.85), Sophia Dammann (200-IM – 2:16.04), Rebecca Brandt (50-free - :25.26) and Andrew Benson (500-free – 4:49.08).
 
There were fewer new national cuts in the evening since it was all repeat events, but Kaylyn Schull qualified for the 100-backstroke by swimming the lead-off leg in the 400-medley relay in 1:01.23 and Matthew Roe qualified for the same event in the same manner with a :55.09.
 
"We had such a great meet today! Everyone has impressed us with their performances," said Mosbacher. "On both the Men and Women's side, there were both season and lifetime best times in a number of different events. It has certainly been a successful day all around to say the least. We still have two full days left of the meet, though, so as long as this momentum is kept up, we will have more exciting stories and performances to share about as the weekend continues to unfold!"
 
The Eagles will continue at this meet on Saturday and Sunday at East LA College.