LA MIRADA, Calif. --- As part of the COVID-19 closures, Biola Athletics had to cancel its 2020 EDDIES awards and year-end student-athlete banquet. Since we were unable to announce our awards and celebrate student-athletes at the banquet, we will take the next two weeks to do so online and over social media.
We begin the process today by announcing the five finalists for the 2020 Female Newcomer of the Year award. The winner will be announced next week on Monday via our @BiolaAthletics social media accounts.

Freshmen and first-year transfer student-athletes are eligible for the newcomer of the year award. Please note: newcomers are eligible for other awards, such as female student-athlete of the year. So, if there's anyone missing they may be nominated for another award.
Please see the five 2020 nominees below:

Grace Catena - Grace Catena made an immediate impact for Biola Cross Country in year one with the Eagles after transferring from Loyola Marymount. She earned all-conference honors by finishing in the top-21 at the PacWest Championship meet. Her best 5k time of the season came at Biola's own Biola Invitational, where she impressed onlookers as the Eagles' no. 2 finisher behind Mackenna Mason. Catena was among the Eagles' no. 2 finisher in all but one of her six races in the fall. She set a new 6k season-best at NCAA Regionals (22:09) and earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors. In her only appearance of the track & field season before the COVID-19 cancellation, she showed she was primed for another great season. She won the 3,000m race at the Beach Opener with a 10:18.99.

Kellynn Hayes - Kellynn Hayes had a great regular season, but her true coming-out party happened at the 2020 Pacific Collegiate Swimming & Diving Conference championship meet, where she won one event and finished fourth-place in two others while breaking the school record in all three distance events. At the end of her freshman season, she's got her name in the school record books four times: as the individual record-holder three times and as part of the 800-freestyle relay. The crowning moment for Hayes was when she won the ultra-competitive 500-freestyle at the PCSC Championships. It was the first time a Biola female swimmer won the conference title in the 500-free. Hayes went 4:58.83 in the finals to out-touch the second-place swimmer by :00.28 seconds. That resulted in 32 points for the Eagles, rather than a second-place 28 points. Biola would go on to beat rival Azusa Pacific by just one point in the meet, making this result all the more critical. Hayes logged A LOT of laps over the four-day meet. She finished fourth with record-breaking efforts in both the 1,000-freestyle (10:24.50) and 1,650-freestyle (17:24.91). All told, she swam 158 competitive 25-yard laps a the PCSC Championships.

Stephanie Lee - Sharp-shooter Stephanie Lee ran away with the PacWest Freshman of the Year award in 2019-20. Lee won PacWest Freshman of the Week honors four out of the first five weeks of the season and led all freshmen in the conference in scoring at 10.0 points per game and three-pointers with a team-high 62. She had three 20-point games in her first season of collegiate basketball, including a career-high 26 against Point Loma on February 29 and had 11 double-digit scoring efforts against conference opponents. Lee led her team in scoring six times, helping Biola to a 5-1 record in those games, and shot over 42 percent from beyond the arc to help Biola Women's Basketball to its first postseason win in its NCAA-Era and a semifinal berth in the PacWest Tournament.

Liza Parahnevich - Liza Parahnevich was the story for Biola Swim & Dive all throughout the regular season. She made an immediate impact with wins and fast times week in and week out. She earned both PCSC Female Swimmer of the Week and Biola Athlete of the Week. She set two school records at the Pacific Collegiate Swimming & Diving Conference Championships, one individual and one as part of a relay. Parahnevich set the new standard in the women's 200-backstroke with a 2:04.86, placing fourth in the conference in the event. She was also a part of the team that set a new mark in the 800-freestyle relay. Like Hayes, all three of Parahnevich's individual finishes at the conference meet came inside of the top-4. She placed third in the 400-IM (4:27.67) and fourth in the 200-IM (2:06.30) to go along with the record-breaking backstroke event. Throughout the season Parahnevich recorded 22 event wins and 10 other top-3 individual finishes. She was 3-for-3 in event wins during Biola's dual meet victory against Azusa Pacific (200-free, 200-IM, 400-IM).

Raegan Tjepkema - Raegan Tjepkema earned All-PacWest honors as a true freshman during this 2019 season. She became the first Biola Volleyball freshman to earn all-conference honors since joining the PacWest. She's the first all-conference freshman since Christina DenBoer took home All-GSAC honors back in 2017. Tjepkema played all 30 matches for Biola and finished the year with 245 kills and a team-best .330 hitting percentage. Her best outing of the season came against Hawaii Pacific in November when she tied the program record for single-match hitting percentage at .867, recording 13 kills in 15 swings. She picked up one PacWest Conference Player of the Week award (right after that HPU match) and was second on the team with 105 blocks on the season. The freshman led the team, and was third in the PacWest, in service aces with 40. That was the highest total by a Biola freshman since Anna Houser (54) back in 2016. Tjepkema had her season-high kill total (18) against Hawaii Hilo on Nov. 11. She was tied for second on the team in the single-match kill total category. 

The winner will be announced via @BiolaAthletics on social media on Monday, April 27. Head on over to our @BiolaAthletics Instagram account to leave some love for these five finalists.

Tomorrow (Tues. April 21) we plan to announce the finalists for male newcomer of the year. See the full schedule below.

Mon. April 20 - Finalists Announced - Female Newcomer of the Year - Grace Catena, Kellynn Hayes, Stephanie Lee, Liza Parahnevich & Raegan Tjepkema
Tue. April 21 - Finalists Announced - Male Newcomer of the Year
Wed. April 22 - Finalists Announced - Female Student-Athlete of the Year
Thur. April 23 - Finalists Announced - Male Student-Athlete of the Year
Fri. April 24 - Winners Announced - Dr. Dave Holmquist Career Achievement Awards
Mon. April 27 - Winner Announced - Female Newcomer of the Year
Tue. April 28 - Winner Announced - Male Newcomer of the Year
Wed. April 29 - Winner Announced - Female Student-Athlete of the Year
Thur. April 30 - Winner Announced - Male Student-Athlete of the Year
Fri. May 1 - Winner Announced - Team Community Service Award