MONTEREY PARK, Calif. --- It takes very special circumstances for a Biola athletic team to be able to compete on a Sunday. This week's effort at the Collegiate Winter Invite certainly called for it as the Eagles looked to complete the week as champions of the event for the first time.

The Eagles achieved that goal and so much more on a busy Sunday morning and evening. The team saw another five school records fall and actually saw six record-breaking swims with one of those events having two swimmers go faster than the school mark.

Biola combined to win eight individual events before closing out the entire meet with a pair of remarkable wins in the always exciting 400-freestyle relay. The men's relay race was one for the ages as the Eagles' contingent of Alexander Ness, Jonas Huckabay, Tanner Smith and Patrick Waggoner went 3:07.35 to defeat the second-place team of CUI by one one-hundredth of a second!

The women won their relay too in what was the last event of the whole weekend. Their effort was not nearly as close as Liza Parahnevich, Kasidee Pascoe, Kellynn Hayes and Kolya Vos won the race going away (3:33.43). Biola took first and third in both the men and women's relays.`

The relays, plus the individual awesomeness, allowed the Eagles to combine for 4,955.5 points to win the combined title AND win both the men and women's events. It was a continued improvement from last season when the men finished first and the women fourth. 

The longest event of the meet was the first event of the day. Gabe Weber put his name in the Eagles' record book with his winning performance in the men's 1,650-freestyle. He finished the 1,650 in 16:12.17, but it was the first 1,000 yards of that 1,650 that were most impressive. Weber beat a six-year-old school record in the 1,000-freestyle with a split of 9:44.06. It was a time 10 seconds faster than the record.

The women's effort in the event was also record-breaking. Both Kellynn Hayes (17:43.43) and Audrey Vermeulen (17:50.23) swam times faster than Biola's 1,650-freestyle record. They went 1-2 in the race. Both of the also broke school records within the race. Similar to Weber, Vermeulen split the 1,000 in a school record time of 10:43.90 to break Abby Blake's record swim from 2013.

Patrick Waggoner continued his fantastic meet by setting his second new school record, this time in a different stroke. He won the men's 200-butterfly with a 1:54.57 to break the record set at the conference championships at the end of the 2018-19 season. Nathan Schwantes added some good points for the Eagles in the same event, placing third with his 1:57.04.

Finally, Liza Parahnevich had the excitement of breaking a record twice on Sunday. She went 2:05.44 in the 200-backstroke prelims to break last season's mark of 2:05.90. Then, the freshman followed up with a 2:05.20 in the finals to break her own record and earn a win by over three seconds.

Raymond Kam continued his strong meet with a pair of victories on Sunday. The senior went :53.34 to win the 100-IM and followed that up with a season-best in the 200-breaststroke to win with a 2:09.76. Kam was a part of three relay wins and four individual victories this meet weekend.

Anna Haaksma was another individual that was a clear standout on Sunday. She recorded a 2:25.10 to win the 200-breaststroke by over six seconds and set a major new season-best. Celine Dong and Nicole Chang finished third and fourth for the Eagles.

Haaksma's other top finish came in an event that featured three Eagles among the top-4 finishers. Kolya Vos led the way with a win the the 100-IM (1:00.09) and was followed by Haaksma's second-place time of 1:02.09 and Katelyn Harper's fourth-place swim of 1:02.23.

Harper got a win of her own in the 200-butterfly with a 2:08.93. That's a 10-second personal-best for the sophomore. Fellow sophomore Faith McAllister finished third in that event.

The fall portion of Biola's 2019-20 swimming & diving schedule is now complete. After a thrilling and accomplishing fall, the Eagles won't have as much time off as is typical because they pick things right back up at the Chris Knorr Invitational on January 3-4. 

The Eagles have three regular-season meets in January and then enter the postseason with the Pacific Collegiate Swim & Dive Conference Championships in February. There's also a chance to close out the year at the NCAA Division II Championships in March.