PCSC Athletes of the Week: December 4

The Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference announced its Athletes of the Week for the week of Nov. 27-Dec. 3 on Tuesday following a jam-packed week of competition. Biola's Lisa Tixier and Raymond Kam collected their second NAIA Athlete of the Week awards of the season, while Pepperdine diver Taylor Basin earned Division I honors. UC San Diego's Tenny Chong and Concordia's Marleigh Aulis were named the Division II winners.

NAIA Women

Lisa Tixier, Biola: Tixier collected six event victories while helping guide Biola to a runner-up finish at the Collegiate Winter Invitational in South Gate over the weekend. The senior claimed both the 100 freestyle (51.00) and the 100 butterfly (55.30) while finishing second in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, the latter coming in a school-record time of 1:04.29.

Tixier also led off the winning 200 free relay with a 23.54 split and anchored the victorious 400 free relay in 50.21. She was also a part of the Eagles' 200 and 400 medley relay teams, both of which finished first as well. Rounding out her weekend of accomplishments, she also led off the third-place 800 free relay. This marks Tixier's second Athlete of the Week honors of the season.

NAIA Men

Raymond Kam, Biola: Kam posted seven top-three finishes while helping Biola to a third-place finish at the Collegiate Winter Invitational over the weekend. He posted runner-up finishes in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breast and the 200 individual medley, posting a new school record in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:08.96. The sophomore also posted a third-place showing in the 100 butterfly to round out his individual honors.

In the relays, Kam helped guide the Eagles to a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay and third-place showings in the 400 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. The Athlete of the Week award is his second of the 2017-18 campaign.

Division I Women

Taylor Basin, Pepperdine: Basin turned in two outstanding performances at the San Diego State dual meet on Dec. 1, at the Aztec Aquatic Center. She placed second in three-meter diving with a personal-best score of 187.27 and fourth in one-meter diving with a season-best score of 218.10. She was the top scorer for the Pepperdine team in the meet.

Division II Women

Marleigh Aulis, Concordia: Aulis achieved the first Division II time standard of CUI's NCAA era by winning the 500-yard freestyle at the Collegiate Winter Invitational in a personal best time of 4:57.70, That mark qualifies as an NCAA B cut and was also a top-10 time in Division II so far this season. In the Saturday morning prelims, she swam another NCAA B qualifying time in the 200 free with a time of 1:53.37, another personal best.

Later on in Saturday finals, she won the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:30.66, just missing an NCAA B cut. Aulis also scored in two other events with a fifth-place showing in the 100 IM and sixth-place in the 100 free, while also participating in four relays for the Eagles to help guide them to the team victory.

Division II Men

Tenny Chong, UC San Diego: Chong represented UC San Diego at USA Swimming's Winter National Championships in Columbus, Ohio. He made the C final of the 100 back on Friday, turning in back-to-back season-best performances of 49.87 and 49.75 to ultimately place fifth in that bonus consolation, for 21st overall, moving up to sixth all-time at UCSD.

On Saturday, Chong advanced to and in fact won the C final in the 100 freestyle, blazing to a mark of 44.67, just .08 off his personal record, for No. 3 in program history. That final effort came out of lane one after narrowly squeezing into the C final. His prelim time of 49.13 in his college debut in the 100 fly, is ninth-fastest at UCSD and hit the exact B standard.

Chong wound up with two C final appearances, including the one win, five season-best swims and his first three NCAA B cuts, entering the top 10 in the program record book in three events. The Athlete of the Week honor is Chong's second of the season.

The PCSC includes institutions from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). All three divisions of the NCAA are represented. Each week, the PCSC coaches nominate and vote on the Athletes of the Week in seven categories: NCAA Division I women, Division II men and women, Division III men and women and NAIA men and women. You can find the Athlete of the Week archive here.