MONTEREY PARK, Calif. --- Wednesday night is not a night where swimmers are typically pushed to the brink. Head Coach Ryan Kauth knew this, and he knew he needed to prepare his team throughout the year to be able to deal with the challenge.

That preparation led to an incredibly successful first night at the 2020 Pacific Collegiate Swimming & Diving Conference Championships. The Eagles had two event wins, set FIVE school records and accumulated about 50 points in one-meter diving.

"Our divers came out to start the day and did exactly what we wanted them to do," said Kauth. "Chloe Hartman being able to place in the top-8 in the one-meter is just a fantastic story. To be an 'A' finalist at conference is wonderful. Westin Dawe cracking the 100-mark on the one-meter after only competing in one diving meet in his entire life was great. He was on cloud nine and he scored big points as a result of his dive."

Hartman placed eighth on the women's one-meter board, carding a 175.05 to earn 22 points for the Eagles. Dawe put up a 115.15 to finish fifth on the men's side and pick up 25 points. 

Gabe Weber made a big splash on opening night, setting a lifetime-best, breaking his own school record by 15 seconds and finishing TIED for the conference championship in the 1,000-freestyle. 

Weber went 9:29.47 to finish the 40 laps of the pool in exactly the same amount of time as Sam Smith from UC Santa Cruz. The two men split 60 points for their teams and shared the top of the podium.

"Gabe Weber has been continually talking about how tough it's been for him over the last year-and-a-half to not get a lifetime-best. He's been just getting season-bests over that time," said Kauth. "He'd never been able to go in the 9:20s. To hit the wall and have a school record by 15 seconds in the most exciting finish of the night was absolutely incredible to watch."

Caleb Stupin also swam an exciting 1,000-freestyle for the men. He was the only one in the afternoon swim and set a lifetime best by 57 seconds. Coach Kauth called Stupin's swim the second-best swim of the day.

The women also had an excellent showing in the 1,000-free. Both Audrey Vermeulen and Kellynn Hayes finished faster than the current 1,000-freestyle school record. Vermeulen went 10:41.22 to edge the record by a few seconds, taking advantage of yet another blazing fast start.

Hayes took a more patient approach, splitting her best times during the final 500 yards. That approach paid off in spades as Hayes passed a bunch of swimmers to move into fifth-place overall and set a new school mark by about 20 seconds at 10:24.50.

Kauth called Hayes' effort the swim of the meet and noted he expects big things from her as the week rolls along.

"Kellynn Hayes was just so patient," said Kauth, "But when she did make her move she was absolutely relentless. She was able to move past people like they were standing still. It was an amazing accomplishment."

The 1,000-free was the only individual event on day one, but the Eagles' success did not stop there. The team excelled in the relays, getting teams on the podium in both the men and women's 800-freestyle relay and the men's 200-medley relay, while seeing both the 'A' and 'B' relay groups in the women's 200-medley relay finish ahead of Azusa Pacific's 'A' group.

The men's 800-freestyle relay was the highlight of that portion of the meet. The team of Patrick Waggoner, Alex Ness, Tanner Smith and Jonas Huckabay went 6:47.17 to beat the second-place side by more than two-thirds a pool length.

The Eagles set the new school record in the 800-freestyle, beating a mark that's been standing since 2012. Waggoner also set a new school mark in the 200-freestyle as the lead-off of the relay. He split 1:41.14 to lead the pack.

This group is made up of four freshmen, which is the most enticing detail.

"The 800-freestyle relays we wanted to be sure that most of the swimmers were fresh," said Kauth. "For six of the eight swimmers, it was their first event of the meet. I think that played a large part in the success of both relays."

The women's 800-freestyle relay set a new school record with a 7:35.70 to place third. They were led by a 1:52.14 split from Hayes as the anchor. Just like the men, the future seems incredibly bright as all four swimmers were sophomores or younger.

Biola's men's 200-medley relay nabbed a podium spot with a 1:34.68, but the group was left longing for more after finishing just one-tenth of a second back from second place. Kauth noted that this is actually a good thing, because it can be a moment to learn, fix mistakes and improve for the rest of the meet.

"As a team we do not just highlight what goes well, but we talk about what we can improve on individually," he said.

Both teams are inside of the top-four following the first day of competition. The men's team is second to just UC Santa Cruz, while the women sit fourth overall. They're the top team from the PacWest Conference in terms of swimming points. 

Day two of the championship meet gets underway at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. Finals begin at 5 p.m. The entire meet is hosted at East LA College Swim Stadium.

See below for the full list of day two events.

Prelims
9:30 a.m.     500 Freestyle
                    200 IM
                    50 Freestyle
                    200 Freestyle relay

Finals
5 p.m.         500 Freestyle Finals
                   200 IM Finals
                   50 Freestyle Finals
6:33 p.m.    200 Freestyle Relay Finals