ORANGE, Calif. --- Biola Swim & Dive roared out of the gates to start 2018 with four dual meet victories in a meet featuring Biola, Chapman, La Verne and Mills College. The women's team placed first in nine of 11 events and won all three head-to-head duals and the men were able to take down La Verne.

"I have definitely challenged the team as a whole in workouts since we've returned from Christmas break, and with having completed a weight-training session earlier in the day, the meet could have gone either way," said Head Coach Ryan Kauth. "The team showed resilience and heart from start to finish. They supported, encouraged and cheered each other on in every race, and I think that continues to speak volumes about how tight this unit is."

It was the Eagles' first meet since Dec. 9 and they bounced back in a major way after a disappointing end to the fall.

The women's team won the first seven swimming events of the meet, beginning with a bang as the 400-medley relay turned in a 12-second victory as Bethany Harper, Lisa Tixier, Rachel Stinchcomb and Emily Silzel combined for a 4:06.29.

The success continued with a Tixier win in the 1,000-freestyle (11:02.28), a Silzel win in the 200-freestyle (1:58.29), a narrow Tixier win in the 50-free (25.13), a half-second win by Stinchcomb in the 200-IM (2:16.33), a third Tixier win in the 200-fly (2:10.87) and finally a Silzel win in the 100-free (54.48). The first event won by someone other than a Biola woman was the 200-backstroke (event 18), in which Kaylyn Schull took a not too distant second.

Silzel also won the 200-breaststroke (by 12 seconds) with a 2:32.16 and the women's contingent closed out its top finishes with a victory in the 400-freestyle relay.

"I'm extremely proud of both the men's and women's teams today. There will always be good and bad races, but like I have told them before, today was about touching the wall first, and we were able to do that in eye-opening fashion," said Kauth.

The men's team earned itself 10 top-3 finishes on the afternoon, including a pair of Raymond Kam victories. In addition to Kam's wins in the 200-fly (2:04.77) and 200-breaststroke (2:20), coach Kauth pointed to Andrew Holmes' top-3 performances in the 200-free (1:57.88) and 200-fly (2:10.10) as "inspiring."

"The team deserves to take a second to enjoy these wins, but I think we already have our sights set on next week's meet, as we compete against a number of conference opponents," said Kauth. "We're also looking towards the end of the season, which is approaching quickly. But what an unbelievable way to start off 2018! As their coach, I couldn't have asked for much more."

Biola hosts a group of PCSC foes next week at the SPLASH! Aquatic Center. Azusa Pacific, Concordia University Irvine, CSU East Bay and SOKA will all be across the street for the meet beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Jan. 20.