SANTA CRUZ, Calif. --- Biola Swim & Dive began its Bay Area swing on Friday at the Slug Shootout hosted by UC Santa Cruz. The men's team placed second of five teams, while the women earned 419 points to finish third of seven teams.

A pair of wins from two of the Eagles' 2021 NCAA qualifiers, Kolya Vos and Grace Kling, paced the women's team. The men also had a pair of event wins, courtesy Jake Michelsen and Tanner Smith. 

Vos got the win in the 100-backstroke, which was a strong event for the Eagles as Liza Parahnevich also found her way to a top-4 finish. Vos went 1:00.28 to win by nearly a full second.

In addition to Vos and Parahnevich the Eagles also got strong finishes from Kalyn Chang and Jackie Mudd to land four swimmers in the top-7.

Kling smoked the competition in the 100-breaststroke. The sophomore went 1:08.31, which is her top time in that event so far this season.

Tanner Smith is picking up right where he left off following a tremendous spring 2021 season. The junior went :48.04 to win the 100-freestyle going away. Biola obliterated the competition in the 100-free, taking four of the top-5 spots. Jacob Haaksma, Westin Dawe and Ethan Crabb joined Smith in the top-5.

Sprint freestyle was the specialty for BU on this evening as Jake Michelsen picked up the victory in the 50-free. The sophomore turned in a time of :22.21 to out-touch the competition by just seven-hundredths of a second.

Michelsen joined Smith, Crabb and Haaksma in another highlight finish for Biola at the very end of the meet. Those men went 3:14.91 to finish second behind Southwestern Oregon in the 400-free relay.

In diving, Eliana Cote had a strong day by finishing second in both the 1-meter and 3-meter board. On the men's side, Luke Bartruff made his season-debut with a second-place finish on the 1-meter.

Earlier, we mentioned Liza Parahnevich finishing just behind Kolya Vos in the 100-backstroke. Parahnevich was the top Eagle in the 400-IM in an absolutely thrilling battle with a swimmer from CSU East Bay. Parahnevich was swimming the 400-IM for the first time this season. She recorded a 4:40.70 with the winner going 4:39.99.

Parahnevich was also a part of a 200-medley relay contingent that placed fourth for Biola to open the meet. She, Kalyn Chang, Kling and Vos went 1:51.97 as the top-4 teams went neck-and-neck.

The men's side also logged a favorable finish in the medley relay, scoring 60 total points as their 'A' team took third and 'B' team took fifth. Smith, Haaksma, Pon and Michelsen led the 'A' team to the wall at 1:38.06.

Sprint freestyle was good for the men, but so was their distance group. Donatus Onu made a big impression as the freshman went 10:11.16 to finish second by just about one second. Gabe Weber also landed on the podium, but in the 500-freestyle. The junior had a season-best time of 4:49.77 

Other top-3 finishes for Biola include Vos in the 50-freestyle, the women's 400-freestyle relay, Jacob Haaksma in the 100-breaststroke and Tanner Smith in the 200-freestyle.

Haaksma led a group of three Eagles who took third, fourth and fifth in the 100-breaststroke. He, James Gamette and Noah Benson combined to bring in 45 points for BU.

Both teams get right back at it on Saturday as they will compete at Mills College in the annual Bay Area Invite meet.