SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- It was a show of force up in Santa Barbara as Biola won all three matchups of a tri-meet against Westmont College and Simpson University in a meet hosted by the fledgling Warriors program.

The women's team had to battle both the Warriors and the Redhawks and it was not even close in either matchup. The progression of this Eagles' program was on full display in a 213-36 win over Westmont and 220-9 victory over Simpson. On the men's side it was head-to-head with the Redhawks for team points. The Eagles cruised to their first dual win of the year by a 166-73 margin.

This is just the second season for both the Simpson and Westmont swim & dive programs. 

The women's side won every event swam, including both relays. The men's team picked up eight individual event wins and used their depth to grab a ton of points as the day progressed to pick up the dual win.

Today was the debut of the 1,650-freestyle for the 2021 season and Biola managed to win both the men and women's races. Kolya Vos took the top spot on the women's side with a swift 18:09.96 of back and forth, while Gabe Weber carried the men's effort with a 17:01.13.
 
The Eagles owned the distance events by cleaning up in the 500-freestyle as well. On the women's side it was a shootout between Kellynn Hayes and Liza Parahnevich, with Hayes claiming the top spot with a 5:22.33. Parahnevich was just a whisper behind her, touching the wall at 5:22.84. The Eagles went 1-2-3 in the women's 500.

The men's 500-freestyle was a win for freshman Michael Maurer. Maurer had a bit more breathing room as his win came with an 11-second buffer at 4:53.60. Maurer had a strong day, also picking up a win in the 200-butterfly with a 1:58.25.

Freshmen accounted for four of the men's wins and four of the women's wins in another brilliant effort from the program's youth. Kalyn Chang picked up her first collegiate win with a 1:01.84 to lead a 1-2 showing for Biola in the 100-backstroke. 

Meghan Tolman continued to make her presence felt with a pair of individual wins and relay contributions. She took first in the 100-breaststroke with a 1:07.97 (Biola took 1-2-3-4 in this event), and she also was the top swimmer in the 50-freestyle with a :25.03.

The door was open on this Saturday for some others to pick up some first-time collegiate event wins. Meredyth Rubie can claim that after she had a top day with victories in the 100-freestyle (:56.50) and the 100-butterfly (1:02.31).

Liza Parahnevich is no stranger to winning events and she kept her trend continuing upward again on Saturday with wins in the 200-freestyle (2:00.51) and 200-backstroke and, of course, strong contributions to the 'A' relays. 

Biola swept the 200-backstroke as freshman Jackson Black got in the win column with a 2:04.26 as the Eagles took all the podium spots in the longer backstroke event. Tanner Smith, the reigning PCSC Swimmer of the Week, won the shorter backstroke event with a :53.58. Smith also won a 100-freestyle where Biola took spots one through six. Smith had a :47.42 to get the win. 

One of the more enticing races of the afternoon between a Biola swimmer and an opponent came in the men's 100-butterfly, where newcomer Matthew Trejo outswam his competition from Simpson with a :51.79 to a :52.07.

In the final individual event of the day James Gamette notched his first win of the season in the 400-IM. Gamette crushed his previous college-best of 4:35.67 with a new time of 4:26.48 as the Eagles went 1-2-3-4 in the event.

Rounding out the women's many event wins were Katelyn Harper in her 400-IM (4:44.57), Grace Kling in the 200-breaststroke (2:27.65) and Faith McAllister in the 200-butterfly (2:16.12). McAllister and Harper both won by seven full seconds.

It's been two excellent weekends to start for Biola Swim & Dive. Next Saturday (Feb. 6) the Eagles have the privilege to host Fresno Pacific for a dual meet on Biola's campus. The meet is set for a 1:30 p.m. start. We plan to live stream the meet to the Biola Athletics YouTube and have live results via the MeetMobile App.