LOS ANGELES, Calif. --- It was a record-breaking final two days of competition at the 2016 Pacific Collegiate Swim & Dive Conference Championships for Biola Swim & Dive. It was the final few days of the 2015-16 competition season for some members of Head Coach Eddie Shepard's squad, and what a time it was.

"We had such a great ending to our regular season and I was thrilled to see how well everyone finished. Our conference is incredibly strong and it was exciting to see how well we competed out there these past four days," said Shepard. "I was especially proud of our group of student-athletes who finished their season at conference. They all swam their hearts out and I could not be more happy to see them succeed."

Lisa Tixier had the best finish over the course of Saturday and Sunday when she placed second in the 100-freestyle. She finished less than a second behind the champion from UC San Diego with a time of 51:18. UC San Diego won the meet on both the men and women's side.

Biola's women's team placed ninth overall out of the 10 teams present at the conference meet (453). The men's contingent finished fifth of six (695).
In addition to Tixier's second-place finish in the 100-freestyle, she placed sixth overall in the 100-butterfly (:56.13).

Christina Ali set a new school record in the 200-breaststroke as the first woman in program history to swim the event under 2:20.00. She placed sixth overall with a 2:19.81. She also had a top finish in the 100-breaststroke, where she finished fifth (1:05.79).

Six members of the men's team were able to secure top-8 finishes during the finals on Sunday and Monday evening. Kenny Alcosiba led the way with an exciting eighth-place finish in the 200-breaststroke (2:15.93).

"One of my favorite swims was seeing Kenny swim in the finals of the 200-breaststroke tonight," said Shepard. "He has grown so much during his four years with us and it was great to see him compete at that level as he nears the end of his college career."

Also finishing among the top-8 was Shane Brinson (3^rd – 1M dive), Daniel Vale (5^th – 100-fly), Charles Nanfria (8^th – 200-fly), Noah Reed (8^th – 1,650 free) and Darrin Smith (8^th – 100-breaststroke).

While the season ended for a few swimmers on Monday afternoon, three swimmers earned their first national cuts of the season to secure their spot at the NAIA National Championship meet next month.

Liliana Barrett swam a 1:00.94 in the 100-freestyle to qualify for nationals. Reed's swim in the 1,650 got the job done (17:12.34) and Smith qualified in the 100-breaststroke (1:00.64).

Also notching new national cuts was Sammy Dammann (100-butterfly) and Angela Kirschner (100-backstroke).

The Eagles now have until March 3 to train for the NAIA National Championships. The Eagles' national competitors head to Columbus, Georgia to attempt to finish inside of the top-10 in the nation again. Both teams have been ranked inside of the top-10 throughout the year.

"I think it was a real encouragement for our nationals group to see how well their teammates did at this meet," said Shepard. "In all I think that this was a great finish for many of our swimmers, and a perfect set-up for those who are going on to nationals."