The swim and dive team headed to the Collegiate Winter Invite hosted by University of La Verne at the South Gate Swim Stadium. The tournament started on Dec. 1 and extended to Dec. 3 as the Eagles faced Concordia University, University of La Verne, University of Redlands and Azusa Pacific University.
FRIDAY NIGHT’S STRONG START
The tournament’s opening day began with Biola facing the four other universities in the 200-yard freestyle relay. A women’s quartet, comprised of senior Lisa Tixier, junior Jennifer London, senior Thomie Mortensen and sophomore Emily Silzel competed in the 200-yard freestyle relay and took first place with a final time of 1:37:40.Their counterparts on the men’s team took third, with seniors Daniel Vale and Tom Franicevich and sophomores Matthew Roe and Andrew Benson taking a final time of 1:27:03.
The Eagles also took home some personal victories as sophomore Rachel Stinchcomb, Silzel, Tixier and junior Rebecca Brandt took first place in the 400-yard medley with a 3:55.98 final time. An Eagle recorded an individual best time when sophomore Raymond Kam placed second in the 200-yard individual medley with a 2:00 mark.
THE WOMEN’S TEAM PREVAILS
Day two again had strong starts as a women’s relay team took first place with a 1:47:66 mark in the 200-yard medley relay. Tixier also took first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55:30 and posted a great 1:04 time in the 100-yard breaststroke, coming in second place. Kam had an impressive 51.45 time in the 100-yard butterfly and narrowly missed out on a victory in the 100-yard breastroke, taking second with a 58.59 mark, just one-hundredth of a second behind the first place time.
The women’s team finished the day unyieldingly in third place in the 800-yard free relay as Tixier, Brandt, Stinchcomb and Silzel finished with a 7:50.36 mark. The men’s team finished with a time of 7:20.71, but junior Noah Reed, Allen, Benson and Franicevich received fifth place. In the overall team leaderboards, after two days the women ranked second with a score of 1134 and the men had fallen to fourth with a score of 695.
JUST KEEP SWIMMING
On the third and final day, the Eagles collected more points. Tixier placed first for her second win and was among the top 3 for the fourth time this invite. She had a 51.00 in the 100-yard freestyle relay. Kam put up a 2:08.96 mark in the 200-yard breaststroke relay to earn second place. Franicevich recorded his best time during the 100-yard freestyle where he took second place with a final mark of 47.39. Kam and Franicevich finished among the top three male swimmers in the competition.
The women’s swim team finished the long invite in second place with a score of 1572. The men had a total score of 1012, taking third place behind Redlands. The Eagles’ next meet will be against Whittier College on Dec. 9.
