SANTA CRUZ, Calif. --- Biola Swim & Dive kicked off its tour up the west coast at the Slug Shootout at UC Santa Cruz on Friday afternoon. Both teams finished second place and the Eagles' total point tally combined was second only to the hosts, UC Santa Cruz.

The men's team was second of three teams with 511.50 points. UCSC scored 570 to win the three-team men's field. The women's side consisted of five teams with Biola's 516 points placing second to CSU East Bay's 542.

"The team races HARD and I love that," said Head Coach Ryan Kauth.

Once again Liza Parahnevich and Gabe Weber turned in tremendous individual performances, raking in five event wins between the two of them. Also on display was the tremendous depth of both teams with the women's side having five finishers back-to-back in the 50-freestyle and the men twice having at least four swimmers finish back-to-back in an event.

Parahnevich won the 200-IM (2:09.56), 100-backstroke (:59.95) and the 200-freestyle (1:56.39). In two of those events she had a Biola swimmer right behind her with Nicole Chang going number two in the backstroke event (1:01.07) and Anna Haaksma finishing third in the IM with a 2:15.78.

Weber swam a whole lot of laps today and it paid off with two big wins. The first-year Eagle took the top spot in the 1,000-freestyle with a 9:58.73 to win by four seconds. He followed that up with a smooth 4:49.18 to win the 500-free later on.

"Gabe & Liza are just NEXT LEVEL," said Kauth. "Anna Haaksma also crazy quick."

On the day Biola had 33 individual top-5 finishes, including the five wins and 11 other top-3 finishes. The Eagles also had five top-5 relays, including the men's 'A' and 'B' teams taking third and fourth in the 400-freestyle relay.

Ashley Vitale and Chloe Hartman both set season-bests on the diving board for BU. Vitale had a banner day, going third in the 1m (209.7) and second in the 3m (201.5). Hartman just scored in the 1m to place 5th (202.4)

The 100-breaststroke was a great event for the women's side, with Haaksma tendering a second-place mark (1:09.08) and Celine Dong coming in just behind her in fourth (1:11.80).

Kellynn Hayes had one of the more notable efforts on the day when she finished fifth in the 1,000-freestyle by carving 13 seconds off of her seed time with an 11:04.40.

Raymond Kam had a rarity occur when he came to a precise tie with a swimmer from College of Idaho for second place in the men's 100-breaststroke (1:00.53). The Eagles also had swimmers take up places six through nine in that event.

Kam also finished second in the 100-butterfly with a :52.53. The Eagles went second, fourth and fifth in the event thanks to strong swims by Colin Reeve and Patrick Waggoner. 

Waggoner was another Eagle to turn in a complete performance on the day. He had a fourth-place finish in the 500-freestyle (4:59.01), second in the 200-freestyle (1:47.32) and was a part of Biola's third-place effort in the 400-freestyle relay.

The 50-freestyle was an event that especially showcased the growth of this team as Biola took spots three through nine in a fantastic showing. Kyle De Villiers' :22.81 led the way, followed by Kam (:22.82) and Jonas Huckabay (:22.97) also going in the top-5.

Huckabay is the other BU swimmer to earn a runner-up finish on Friday. He went second in the 100-freestyle with a :49.00 flat. Huckabay's time was absolutely as close as it could get to a win, with his opponent from UC Santa Cruz going :48.99.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday at the Bay Area Invitational, hosted by Mills College.

"We are excited for good swims. We're praying for good swims," said Kauth.