LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Swim & Dive just kept the train rolling on Saturday as it hosted Fresno Pacific for a fun and festive dual meet at Lansing Pool. The women's team wrapped up a fourth dual win this year (4-0), while the men added another win as well (2-1) in a dominant showing against the Sunbirds.

The women's win came by a final tally of 161-54 and the men brought in the victory by way of a 133-93 score line. Biola got 33 total points out of diving in this one as Ashley Vitale swept the women's boards and Westin Dawe chalked up a pair of runner-up performances.
 

SWIM: Highest scores of the day so far on this dive! Go Eagles! pic.twitter.com/TS7U7xOd4O

— Biola Athletics (@BiolaAthletics) February 6, 2021

In between the lane lines it was again Biola's depth of talent that won the day for them against a Fresno Pacific squad with several standout individuals at the top but not a whole lot of roster depth.

"We knew going into the meet that Fresno Pacific had some really big-name swimmers. They had some studs. That's what Fresno Pacific has really created," said Head Coach Ryan Kauth. "How people know them is that their top swimmers are the top in the conference and some of the top in the country. And so we knew that coming in, we knew that we were going to have to have the depth in order to win these meets."

Biola put its studs right up against the studs of FPU and found a way to touch the wall first enough times to carve out two victories on a beautiful sunny day in La Mirada. President Barry H. Corey opened the day in prayer and was on hand to witness his first in-person competition of Spring 2021.

The Eagles swimmers and divers did enough, especially in the early going, to ensure him his trip out was well worth the visit.

Biola exploded out of the gate with the women's team taking the top three spots in the 200-medley relay. The top group of Kalyn Chang, Meghan Tolman, Katelyn Harper and Kolya Vos ran away with it with a 1:48.75. Tolman (breaststroke) and Vos (freestyle) were incredible in the team effort. Tolman split :29.36 and Vos a :23.95.

The groups final time was almost four seconds faster than their seed time.

The Biola 'B' and 'C' teams were able to score big points to the Eagles as well, with the second group about four seconds back from the winners and group three eight seconds back. The important bit is that third group was almost one full second ahead of FPU's 'A' relay.\

"This is our pool. This is a pool that you're going to have to come in and verse us and, and we're going to defend our turf," said Kauth. "I think it's something that we've been able to improve upon over the last couple of years, just coming out of the gates really, really strong and really, really excited. I think our team is extremely talented. They arrive at the blocks for the first event ready and pumping each other up."

The men's team finished up just :00.71 behind FPU's 'A' team in that opening relay. On the men's side Fresno Pacific is known for their relays.

The strong start set the tone for another day of tough swims from this bunch. The meet was a way to showcase growth over the past few weeks and also get a few swimmers ready for a major road meet next week at UNLV. Kauth will have the opportunity to take 12 of his top swimmers to Las Vegas to participate in a major shave and taper meet in search of NCAA Division II qualifying times.

Some of those swimmers helped Biola score some major points this week. Two were already mention in Tolman and Vos. That pairing went 1-2 in the women's 50-freestyle with Tolman taking the top spot with her :24.63. Vos was just behind her at :24.70 as Biola took 1-2-3 in that event as well.

Grace Kling added a win and nine points for the Eagles in her event, swimming a 1:08.05 in the 100-breaststroke to win by over three seconds. That event was incredible for the Eagles with BU taking all of the top-5 spots.

Liza Parahnevich finished third in that 100-breaststroke and later went on to earn a BU win in the 100-butterfly with a :59.24. Parahnevich and Faith McAllister went 1-2 in the fly.

"Our goal from the beginning of the year has been to be a force to be reckoned with," said Kauth. "Our thought process is that this is our statement season. This is a season that we want to come out and really show the conference that we're the team to beat."

Biola was certainly the team to beat on both sides today, with 15 total event wins. Nathan Schwantes claimed two of those 15 victories when he took the top spot in the 200-IM (2:01.65) and the 100-breaststroke (1:00.71).

Katelyn Harper took home the women's half of the 200-IM dockett, scoring a niner for BU with her 2:11.07. 

Gabe Weber jumped into a middle distance event today, swimming (and winning) the men's 200-freestlye with a time of 1:45.44. Biola accounted for three of the top four spots in that race, with Weber being joined by Jake Michelsen and Jackson Black.

"We understand that in college you got to touch the wall first. And, so we touched the wall first enough to come out on top," said Kauth. "And that was really, really. Impressive because I think it showed a lot of fight in a unique situation with no real warm-up today. After today, really, I think we are in a position where we're so confident about what we can do that we're going to have teams chase us."

Two of the Vegas-bound swimmers, Jonas Huckabay and James Gamette, accomplished the little-seen happenstance of touching the wall at the exact same time in the men's 50-freestyle. The guys tied for third-place with their shared time of :22.22.

Tanner Smith had another big win to put in his cap during this statement season as he took first in that 50-free with a :21.85. Right around this time last year in non-taper meets Smith was clocking a :22.56 in the 50, so it's a nice improvement.

"This team, through four meets, has shown that they have an unwavering ability to stay engaged, to keep their one foot in front of the other," said Kauth. "I think that you're going to see that as we go through the rest of the year. I think that you're going to see a team that's resilient, a team that is hungry and a team that's going to stop at nothing to achieve their goals."

Those goals will come into full focus next week at UNLV as Biola aims for NCAA Division II automatic qualifying times. Look for a meet schedule and preview later this week on athletics.biola.edu.