LAS VEGAS, Nev. --- Mission Accomplished.
Biola Swim & Dive headed to the desert in an effort to have some phenomenal individual and relay performances and hopefully set some program records. Head Coach
Ryan Kauth's team did just that as they managed six new school records and had six different swims come in at better than the NCAA Division II 'B' qualifying standard.
The first record to fall came courtesy freshman standout,
Matthew Trejo. Trejo went :50.47 in the 100-butterfly to drop Biola's previous best mark by seven-hundredths of a second. The time was also a new personal-best for Trejo by about a half-second.
It was a very strong day for the men's side as
Patrick Waggoner added onto what Trejo started by breaking the top BU mark in the 200-freestyle just a few events later. Waggoner broke his own record in the event by logging a 1:40.59. His time was less than a half-second off the NCAA qualifying time.
Early in the meet the women's side saw two almost-immediate NCAA qualifying standards hit. First was
Katelyn Harper in the 400-IM (4:28.78) and second was
Kolya Vos in the 200-freestyle (:1:52.58). Both were better than the 'B' standard, which means they have an opportunity to be selected to the meet (based on time) later in the spring. Vos also beat the 'B' standard in the 100-freestyle with a :50.84.
The next record to fall was by a wide margin.
Tanner Smith blasted past the previous 100-backstroke mark in a gritty performance, earning a :50.93. He was more than a half-second improved over the record and about a full second less than his personal previous-best.
The first women's record to fall was at the hands of another freshman. This time,
Meghan Tolman obliterated the women's 100-breaststroke record perviously held by future Biola Athletics Hall of Famer, Lisa Tixier. Tolman's 1:03.20 was about 1.5 seconds better than her personal-best and was just over a second better than Tixier's record.
Another freshman,
Grace Kling, came close to adding the record in the 200-breaststroke as she went 2:18.99 and was just shy of the existing record of 2:18.31.
Tanner Smith couldn't quite find his way to the men's 100-freestyle record, which is one of the longest-standing records in the Biola record book. He marked a :45.33, which was another huge improvement over a career-best for Smith whose previous top time was :46.48. However, the :45.33 was just shy of the record of :44.76. The time was good enough to hit the provisional qualifying mark, though.
The two other records came on men's relay races later on in the meet. First up
Patrick Waggoner, Trejo, Smith and
Jonas Huckabay combined to go 3:04.00 in the 400-freestyle relay to best the previous mark of 3:04.05 set just last year by a group that included three of these four.
The other came in the 200-medley relay and featured a lot of the same faces. Smith, Trejo and Huckabay combined forces with
James Gamette to go 1:33.64 and best the old mark of 1:33.80 (set in 2015).
As impressive a day as this group managed to have this Saturday, there's one thing that's for certain. It's a group that's going to come right back here to La Mirada and jump in Lansing Pool on Monday and work as hard as they possibly can to get these times even better by the time the PCSC Championships roll around. While this mission was accomplished, this team has something much, much larger in mind.
