Biola swim and dive competed in a meet against Azusa Pacific University, Concordia University, California State University East Bay and Soka University of America on Jan. 20. Both the men’s and women’s teams ultimately proved outnumbered against their competitive opponents as the men finished second of three and the women finished fourth of five.

FIRST PLACE FINISHES

The men started off the meet with a win in the first event. Sophomores Matthew Roe, Raymond Kam, Andrew Benson and senior Tom Franicevich claimed first in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:42.03. Franicevich won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:49.13 and the 100-yard freestyle with a 49.48 time. Kam took home victories in the 100-yard breastroke with 1:00.48 and the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:16.22. He also finished the 100-yard butterfly in first with a time of 53.41. Junior Noah Reed came on top in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:05.00. Sophomore Brixton Barron combined with Roe, Benson and Franicevich to end the meet with a final victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:19.78. The men finished with 532 points, winding up short of Concordia, which finished first with 895 points.

WOMEN DODGE TOUGH COMPETITION

The women had many close races as well, often finishing behind first-place CSU East Bay. Sophomores Rachel Stinchcomb and Emily Silzel and seniors Lisa Tixier and Thomine Mortensen finished their first race in second place with a time of 1:51.84 in the 400-yard medley relay. Silzel won the 100-yard breastroke with a time of 1:08.14 and took second in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:12.21 time. Tixier emerged victorious in the 100-yard freestyle with a 53.21 time and the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.25. Silzel, sophomore Bethany Harper, Stinchcomb and Tixier also took second in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:39.97 just two seconds after CSUEB. On the dive team, sophomore Nichole Landon finished fourth in the one-meter dive event with a score of 113.25. The women ultimately finished fourth with 375 points while CSUEB finished first with 907 points.

PREPARATIONS FOR LAST MEET

Benson recently came off of an injury and is working to finish the season strong.

“[I am] focusing on our conference meet in four weeks so that’s what I’m building up to. Trying to save energy where I can to finish the season,” Benson said. “We did really well this swim meet. We beat a lot of people that we shouldn’t have so that was really encouraging.”

The last regular season meet before the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Diveconference championships will be home at Biola’s Lansing Pool against Chapman University on Jan. 23 at 10 a.m.