LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Swim & Dive opened up its final meet of the season with some of its finest performances in program history. The Eagles saw three school records fall and found a way to be near the top after a day of relays.
The opening night of the Pacific Collegiate Swimming & Diving Conference is reserved for the 200-medley and 800-freestyle relay in addition to diving events and the 1,000-freestyle.
Biola's new school records came in the women's heats of the two relays. The groups set new top marks in both relays and Lisa Tixier was zooming as she led-off the 800-freestyle relay and crushed the old school record in the 200-free.
Tixier's swim breaks a three-year-old mark held by Christine Tixier. The younger Tixier split 1:49.86 to lower the school's top time by a jaw-dropping five seconds.
"There are some pretty exclusive 'clubs' in swimming, and the women's sub-1:50 in the 200-Freestyle is one of those 'clubs,'" said Head Coach
Ryan Kauth. "I knew going in that Lisa was conditioned well enough to accomplish it, so we decided to lead her off, and see what she coulddo. She made me a little nervous with how fast she went out, but I assured her that eve if she started to hurt, to remain as efficient as possible in the second half of the race. She did just that, and was able to finish with the 1:49. I couldn't be more proud of her, or more excited of things to come for her at this meet. That's definitely going to be a tough record to top for future Eagles."
That swim got the relay off to the start it needed in order to go 7:36.04 to also break a record from back in 2015. Joining Tixier on the historic swim was Emily Silzel, Rachel Stinchcomb and Bethany Harper. Silzel's spit of 1:52.51 also would have been good enough to break the old school mark.
The other relay, which was first up for the women, also featured Tixier, Silzel and Stinchcomb. They were joined by Rebecca Brandt and managed to post a 1:45.56 to set a new school record, edging the old mark by about a half-second.
"Starting the meet off with a school record was as inspiring of a start as the team could have asked for," said Kauth. "This relay has been competing together since the beginning of the year, and their camaraderie really showed in their performance. Their timing, and trust within one another is what ultimately lead them to breaking one of the fastest records on the books for Biola. I am truly proud of this group, an expect it to drive them to continue more of the same over the next three days."
Also notable on that relay is that they managed to out-touch Biola's rival, Azusa Pacific. The Eagles and Cougars will battle throughout the week for 10 Cornerstone Cup points.
Both women's relays placed fifth.
Jake Allen was the very first Eagle in the water at this year's conference championships. The freshman was in the field for the 1,000-freestyle and ended up placing 11th with his swim of 10:11.56. He was among the only 11 swimmers to finish lower than 10:30.00.
The men's team also managed to have two fifth-place relay teams. The 200-medley relay finished in 1:37.11 to be just a handful of seconds off the school record. The 800-free relay finished with a 7:16.84. Andrew Benson split 1:48.08 to lead the effort in that heat.
There's three more days of competition coming up at SPLASH! Aquatic Center. Thursday's prelims are set to begin at 9:30 a.m. across the street from Biola. Tomorrow night's finals feature the 500-freestyle, 200 IM, 500-freestyle and 200-free relay.
"Looking forward to more fast, and inspiring swims all around tomorrow as we head into the first day of individual competition," said Kauth.
See which Biolan is competing in which event in the link up top. Follow the rest of the meet with LIVE RESULTS by downloading the MEET MOBILE APP on your connected device.
