LOS ANGELES, Calif. --- Day one of the La Verne Collegiate Winter Invite came to a close on Friday night at East LA College with Biola making a strong showing in its 23 finals swims, the dive portion and the first relays of the meet.

The teams racked up enough points on the day to sit second (women's - 329 points) and fifth (men's - 361 points). 

Eight individual swims placed inside of the top-10 with a ninth effort just three-hundredths of a second back in 11th (Morgan Kampfer in the 500-freestyle). 

Liza Parahnevich was once again the standout as the third-year Eagle placed second in the women's 200-IM. She went 2:06.64, which was a smidge faster than her prelim time. It was the best finish she could hope for in a pack led by standout Kennedy Loewen who was turning in 2:03s. Grace Kling went 2:08.55 to place ninth and join Parahnevich in the top-10. It was one of three finals to feature more than one BU swimmer in the top-10.

Eliana Cote put up her second-best one-meter score of the season on Friday as she placed fifth with a 202.95. Luke Bartruff represented the men's team in the three-meter for the first time, finishing fourth with a 94.75.

Jacob Haaksma had the highest finish among the men's swimmers. He went 1:55.27 to pace the effort in the 200-IM. His time was good enough for fifth, while Nathan Schwantes placed just behind him in seventh (1:57.16).

The men's 50-freestyle was the final finals event that saw two Eagles in the top-10. This one was led by star returner Tanner Smith who turned a :21.63 to finish 8th. Ethan Crabb continues to sizzle in his first season at Biola, carding a :21.72 to finish just one spot back from Smith.

Kolya Vos was of course the quickest on the women's side in the sprint freestyle. The third-year Biolan went a :24.24 to finish 10th overall. It was a new season-best at a four-hundredths of a second improvement from this morning.

Gabe Weber also dropped in at the 10-spot in his lone finals. He improved by five seconds from his prelim time to move up one spot with a 4:43.16 to earn 10 points for his team.

The evening session began with the 200-freestyle relay where the top women's team finished sixth (1:38.15) and the top men's contingent placed seventh (1:27.21). Vos led a talented group of Katie Ottman, Kalyn Chang and Kasidee Pascoe of the women.

The night was drawn to a close with the 400-medley relay. The men had two teams finish back-to-back in sixth and seventh with 3:32.66 and a 3:33.88, respectively. The women's team saw its 'A' group place fifth with a finals time of 3:56.01. This was a six-second improvement over the best 400-medley time from BU so far this year put forth by Chang, Kling, Kampfer and Vos.

The three-day meet continues at East LA College on Saturday morning. It will follow a similar schedule as Friday with a set of prelims at 10 a.m. and finals beginning at 5 p.m. On the docket for Saturday is the 400-IM, 100-butterfly, 200-freestyle, 100-breaststroke and 100-backstroke.