AZUSA, Calif. --- In a preview of the big Cornerstone Cup matchup that will go down later this year at the PCSC Conference meet, Biola and Azusa Pacific battled it out on Saturday in a head-to-head dual meet at APU's pool.
Azusa Pacific earned the head-to-head win against the women's team (APU only sponsors women's swim), 160-74.
"Today's meet definitely had a little bit more of a unique importance than others we will have this year," said Head Coach
Ryan Kauth. "Being a part of a rivalry like the Cornerstone Cup definitely gives the swimmers an exciting reason to swim fast and try to hit the wall first."
Kauth mentioned looking into the Cougars' before the meet and knowing in advance it would take the team an extraordinary effort in order to beat them this week. This is in large part due to the depth of numbers the Cougars have and that they can fill some events Biola currently cannot.
However, that takes nothing away from the effort put out by both of the Eagles' contingents on Saturday morning. The men also had a unique situation in that it's hard to get motivated to swim against no one but your own teammates.
"The meet got off to a great start with a first and third in the women's 400-medley relay," said Kauth. "I was really happy with that result, because I thought it showed how well-rounded we are as a team and that we can produce speed in every stroke"
Biola's team of Rachel Stinchcomb, Emily Silzel, Lisa Tixier and Rebecca Brandt (all returning swimmers) earned the first-place finish in that relay with a 4:06.75. The swim earned 11 points for BU as they edged Azusa's top group by just about three seconds.
Tixier earned a first-place individual finish in the 100-freestyle, out-touching Alyse Darnall of APU by nearly a full second (:53.59). She also had a runner-up mark in an exciting 50-freestyle race separated by just three-hundredths of a second (:24.42).
Emily Silzel also provided a spark with some standout individual finishes. She was the only other member of the women's team to earn an individual win when she placed first in the 100-breaststroke (1:10.02) and second in the 200-freestyle (1:57.86).
Kauth also took extra care to point out the swims of Sophia Dammann in the 500-freestyle and Jenny London in the 100-breaststroke. Dammann finished third in the 500 with a 5:35.08. She was just 13 seconds out of second, which is pretty good for going up against APU in a traditionally bread-and-butter distance event. London was third in the breaststroke (1:12.33), which made two Eagles inside of the top-3. That breaststroke race was the only time that happened on Saturday.
"I was satisfied to see us close the gap by about 20 points compared to last season's results, and think we'll continue to do so in the years upcoming," said Kauth. "After arguably the hardest month of training most of the team has endured in their entire careers, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what we can do at our Winter Invite."
The men's team may have just been competing head-to-head with one another, but the team definitely did not fail to get fired up to race one another. Tom Franicevich and Raymond Kam each won two events with Andrew Benson, Matthew Roe and Noah Reed winning the others.
"The highlight of their meet was the 200-freestyle relay, which all of them really flew in because they made an agreement that the loser would be required to bring snacks to next week's team Bible study," said Kauth. "It was a great, light-hearted, competitive way to end a tough day."
At the end of the day it is Daniel Vale, Reed, Brixton Barron and Franicevich who escaped having to bring the snacks because they won the event with a 1:32.70. The second-place group recorded an equally impressive 1:32.77.
The Eagles are out of the competition pool for nearly a month before they suit up for the most important and fastest meet of the first half of the season, the Collegiate Winter Invite. Biola will compete at the meet hosted by East LA College Dec. 1-3.
