RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- Biola Swim & Dive began its 2021 campaign on Saturday and it opened with a bang! The women's team earned the dual meet victory over NCAA Division I California Baptist by a final score of 169-130. The men's side gained momentum with a win in the final event of the day to hang in there as CBU took victory, 182-109.

"This was a dominant win for the women," said Head Coach Ryan Kauth. "The men held their own the whole way through, too. It was a great way to start."

Biola won the first event of the day and the last event of the day with nine individual event victories sprinkled in between in an inspiring season-opening performance from both teams. As has been custom over the past few years, the freshmen class really stood out today. It's clear both teams are primed and ready to make their mark in NCAA Division II in 2021. 

"So going into the meet, I had just asked, leading up to it, for our team to just believe that they could swim with them and dive with them," said Kauth. "I wanted them to believe they could compete at a high level versus an exceptionally talented division one team."

Meghan Tolman was one such standout freshman. The newcomer picked up wins in the 50-free (:24.32) and 100-breaststroke (1:05.52) while also contributing to a big Biola win in the 400-medley relay. Tolman added a runner-up finish in the 100-butterfly to round out an incredible first collegiate meet.

Kolya Vos and Liza Parahnevich picked up right where they left off in 2020. The pair both won multiple individual events and also contributed to the big relay win that kicked off the meet. Vos took first place in the 100-freestyle (:52.99), the 200-freestyle (1:54.87) and added a second-place finish in the 500-free (5:14.40) for good measure. The 500-free was a solid event for the Eagles as Kellynn Hayes took home third just behind Vos with a 5:19.10.

"I thought we had an edge in that way because Cal Baptist, this is their third meet of the season," said Kauth. "So I just thought that we could come in a little bit more excited and a little bit more focused. We wanted to show that, 'hey, we put in a lot of good work and we're capable of doing a lot of really, really incredible and memorable things."

Parahnevich took the top spot on the podium in the 100-backstroke (1:00.84) and 200-backstroke (2:09.98). The Eagles dominated the backstroke events on the women's side, taking 1-4 in the 100-yard event and the top-2 spots in the 200-yard event. Freshman Jackie Mudd took second place to Parahnevich in both events.

Another newcomer picked up a win in the 200-breaststroke as Grace Kling impressed with her 2:21.53. She was also the fourth member of that relay-winning group that also included Parahnevich, Tolman and Vos. Kling added a second-place showing in the 100-breaststroke with a 1:05.75.

"As the meet went on, you know, we saw some races that we just completely dominated," said Kauth. "That's kind of the thing that I saw from the women's team. It was just domination from start to finish."

Faith McAllister and Katelyn Harper held it down for the veteran members of the team with Biola's eighth and ninth individual victories of the day. McAllister took first in a 100-butterfly event where the Eagles took 1-2-3. She recorded a time of 1:00.21 to get the win. Harper won the 400-IM, solidifying Biola's reputation as "IM-University." She swam a 4:33.45 as herself and Parahnevich took the top two spots.

"What I saw today was a team on a mission," said Kauth. "On a mission to earn respect from anybody that's looking at the results from this meet."

The highest finish on the men's side was that exciting victory in the 200-freestyle relay in the final event of the day. Jake Michelsen, Jonas Huckabay, Patrick Waggoner and Tanner Smith went 1:25.91 to outpace CBU's top team by nearly two full seconds. 

The men did not get any individual victories against the staunch CBU lineup, but there were plenty of great showings as BU reeled in eight individual runner-up finishes and took the second, third and fourth spots in four different events. It was an excellent showing against a CBU team that was No. 2 in NCAA Division II back in 2018.

"I wanted to see a tough group of men that didn't care who was swimming next to him.," said Kauth. "Didn't care what division they're swimming against. They know that they're capable and that's what we saw today."

James Gamette and Tanner Smith each recorded a pair of second-place showings. Gamette went :58.29 in the 100-breaststroke and 2:08.96 in the 200-breaststroke for his runner-ups. Biola went 2-3-4 in each of those events, really illustrating the depth of this 2021 men's team.

Smith's top-2 efforts came in the 100-backstroke (:53.14) and the 200-backstroke (1:56.63). Newcomer Jackson Black (1:57.51) finished on his tail in the 200-backstroke to earn a top-3 finish.

Gabe Weber, who shone brightly last year at the PCSC Championships, had a strong opening to the season with a second-place mark in the first individual event of the day, the 1,000-freestyle. Weber went 9:59.28 in the 1,000 and 4:55.33 in the 500-free to podium both events.

Matthew Trejo had a solid first swim meet of his collegiate career. He helped Smith, Gamette and Jonas Huckabay to a second-place finish in the 400-medley relay. That relay group broke the previous school record with a time of 3:25.87. Trejo also added a runner-up mark in the 500-free (4:48.53).

Jake Michelsen and Dylan Pon were the two other Eagles to record top-2 marks on this rainy Saturday. Michelsen went :21.96 to lead the effort as BU took 2-3-4 in the 50-free. Pon narrowly missed out on a win in the 100-butterfly with a :51.81. The winner from CBU was at :51.67.

Biola brought in 16 points on the diving boards with Ashley Vitale's 179.05 on the 1m board being the highest score of the day from a BU diver. On the men's side, Westin Dawe picked up a pair of second-place finishes.

"It was just fun to be a part of. It was one of the most proud moments that I have had as the head coach at Biola," said Kauth. "We did some really great stuff last year and the men's and women's team ended up getting third at conference, the highest placing ever. But what they did today hit different. Today was something that I looked at the team and I said, don't let this one go."

Biola gets right back after it next Saturday as they head north to Santa Barbara for a tri-meet against Westmont and Simpson.

"If this is any indication for what the future holds, I think that we have the toughest, most focused team in the conference, and maybe in the conversation for one of the toughest, most focused teams in the nation," said Kauth. "This group is this group is built different and we saw that today as they put that on display."