COLUMBUS, Georgia --- Day one of competition at the 2016 NAIA National Swimming & Diving Championships was a resounding success for Biola University as Shane Brinson earned an individual national title in the only event of the day.
 
Biola Men's Swimming & Diving leads the entire championship field after one day of competition thanks to Brinson's top finish in the 3-meter dive. He took first in the prelims and remained in first after six rounds of dives in the finals for his first career national championship.
 
"I was so excited to see Shane take the 3-meter board," said Head Coach Eddie Shepard. "He's looked strong all year and we knew he had a good shot at winning. Diving is such a mental sport and he was able to hold it all together in the finals, even with the pressure of being seeded first after prelims."
 
Brinson took a seven-point lead after the round of prelim dives and extended that to a 25-point lead at the end of the finals.
 
He finished with a combined finals score of 248.10 to lead the pack and take first place over David Groh of Cumberlands University.
 
He becomes Biola's first champion and first All-American of the four-day meet. The team expects a big year to yield a lot more All-American honors and a few more national champions. Brinson has a chance for another medal when he'll compete in the 1-meter prelims on Thursday and finals on Friday.
 
"I could not be more happy for Shane. I am excited to see how he does in the one-meter board," said Shepard.

The rest of Shepard's 21-person contingent of competitors gets their first taste of competition on Thursday as the Columbus Aquatic Center hosts the 200-medley relay, 500-freestyle, 200-IM, 50-freestyle and the 800-freestyle relay. Live results can be found at http://results.teamunify.com/gsscat/?DB_OEM_ID=27900.