MONTEREY PARK, Calif. --- The Biola swim and dive teams entered day one of the Pacific Collegiate Swim & Dive Conference Championships eager and ready to return to the top. 

With this meet circled on the calendar, the Eagles came prepared as points come at a premium. The top-24 in each prelim event have a chance at securing vital points for their team in the A-B-C finals. A top-8 finish in qualifying allows each swimmer the chance to secure a podium finish in the conference championships.  

After day one, the women's team sits in fourth place with 186.5 points while the men's team sits second with 155.5 points. 

In the 1000 Free, it was all Eagles on the podium of the men's finals. Josh Peace set a personal best (9:15.95) on the way to a first place finish. Samuel Slezak and Noah Hall finished right behind Peace to secure much needed points for the Eagles.

The other standout individual from the evening's finals was Phoebe Munholland. In the 50-freestyle final, Munholland swam to second place and earned Biola's first podium spot on the women's side with a :23.64. 

The men's 800-freestyle relay team of Vos, Slezak, Ronan Watts and Alejandro Marchesini made a statement with a 3rd-place finish. The top split came from Vos who led-off with a 1:39.32 as the group put up a time of 6:45.82 to improve by nearly 10 seconds from their seed time. The Master's University and UC Santa Cruz were the only teams in front of them. 

In the preliminary rounds, Allison Yancey grabbed a top eight finish with a time of 2:08.07 in the 200-IM. Five different Eagles swiped consecutive 15th-19th place finishes (Morgan Carles, Chloe Colvard, Colette Friedley, Rachel Munch, and Malia Ciolli). In the final, Yancey earned solid points for her team, placing seventh overall and dropping time to 2:07.83.

On the men's side, Karter McNutt swam to a personal best, 1:54.96 en route to a ninth place finish in qualifying. Tate Fitzgerald, Eli Houseman, and Jack Snyder all secured top-17 finishes to earn a place in the night race. McNutt went 1:55.14 in the final to finish 10th.

In the 50-freestyle qualifying, Munholland placed sixth out of 86 swimmers with a time of :23.93. Lauren Smith, Esther Swanson and Emilee Elizondo all placed in the top-24, giving BU more opportunities for points. Smitty went :24.44 in the finals to finish 15th. Her prelim swim gave her a new personal-best in the event. 

In the men's 50 free, five Eagles secured top-17 spots during prelims. This effort was headlined by a ninth place finish from Nathan Griffin (:20.88). Koen Vos (:20.94) and Andrew Hanson (:21.12) both set personal bests in the qualifying rounds. Biola ended up going back-to-back in the finals with Griffin earning 10th, Vos 11th and Hanson 12th. Hanson bettered his time to :21.03.

Julia Hill was Biola's top finisher in the women's 1,000-freestyle. She went 10:45.67 to place 14th and earn 13 points for the squad.

It was just prelims on the diving boards today as the Eagles' divers took on 11-dive sets - the men on the one meter and women on the three meter. Headed into tomorrow's finals, Caleb Pook is the top seed on the 1-meter with 450.90 over the 11 dives today, while Lauren Smith (313.0) and Peyton Nelson (311.75) lead the charge for BU headed into tomorrow, seeded sixth and seventh.

The Eagles will be back in the pool tomorrow with prelims starting at 9:30 a.m.

See tomorrow's event list pasted below:
Thursday, February 12
100-Butterfly (Allison Yancey - 3rd/Andrew Hanson - 9th)
400-IM (Coco Friedley - 5th/Anthony Ramirez - 4th)
200-Freestyle (Morgan Carles - 4th/Alejandro Marchesini - 9th)
200-Freestyle Relay (Women's A - 5th/Men's A - 3rd)
400-Medley Relay (Women's A - 2nd/Men's A - 4th)
Women's 3m dive (6 dives)
Men's 1m dive (6 dives)