Biola Takes Two in Redlands
RESULTS (PDF) | TEAM SCORES (PDF)
REDLANDS, Calif. --- It's been a trying last few weeks for Biola Swim & Dive as Head Coach Nate Harding's bunch has had to deal with the adversity of their home pool being down due to a major water leak on Biola's campus.
Their performance at the Redlands-La Verne double dual on Saturday once again proved this is a program that's built for the fight. The Eagles were victorious every way you looked at the results with both programs earning narrow wins over Redlands and dominant victories over La Verne.
"This team has battled and dealt with so much this season even though we aren't at half way point," said Harding. "I think this week of training and this weekend's double dual with Redlands and La Verne solidified the direction we are headed. I'm proud of this team!"
The men's team beat the Bulldogs 157-117 while coming away with a 227-27 mark over the Leopards. The women's contingent beat the hosts 163-130 and handed La Verne the L by a final tally of 232-38.
Biola took three of the four relay events on the day, with the men winning both the 200-medley relay and the meet-ending 400-freestyle relay. The women's team also picked up the w in the final event of the day as Sofia Chavez-Varela, Liza Parahnevich, Morgan Kampfer and Kolya Vos combined to go 3:40.68 in the win.
Outside the relays, Biola swimmers managed to pick up 14 other event wins, including impressive showings in both 200-butterfly events and both men's backstroke events where the Eagles took first, second and third in each event.
On the men's side it was Clayton Owens picking up the win in the 100-backstroke (:56.35), with Jackson Black taking the top spot in the lengthier backstroke event (2:02.83).
The men's 200-butterfly saw the podium swept by Nathan Schwantes (1:59.17), Michael Maurer and then Gavin Souttere. On the women's side it was all Eagles up top led by Morgan Kampfer (2:13.39), Anna Cohee and Sofia Chavez-Varela.
Jake Michelsen had a busy and very successful day. He was a part of the winning 400-free relay, he tag teamed with Tanner Smith, Jacob Haaksma and Dylan Pon to earn an extremely narrow win in the 200-medley relay and he managed an event win of his own. The relay win was a 1:37.02 to 1:37.24 over the host school.
Michelsen won the 50-free with a :22.00-flat, which is a new season-best. He was also a part of a strong finish for BU in the 100-freestyle. Tanner Smith led that group, finishing second with a :47.87 in front of Michelsen and Dawe who went third and fourth.
The other event win for the Biola men came from Donatus Onu, who earned an individual win in the 1,000-freestyle for his first collegiate victory. Onu went 10:09.42 to get the win.
Kolya Vos and Liza Parahnevich both had double-win days for the Eagles. Vos took first in the 200-freestyle (1:58.85) and 100-freestyle (:53.54), while Parahnevich touched first in the 100-backstroke (1:00.44) and 200-backstroke (2:11.29). The consistency from the two of them in their given stroke at varying distances has been key to Biola accumulating points all year long.
Biola's depth and strength in various strokes was on display with the women's remaining event wins as Grace Kling won the 200-breaststroke (2:24.93), Morgan Kampfer won the 100-butterfly (1:00.36) and Audrey Vermeulen (5:25.65) scooted to a win in the 500-freestyle.
In addition to their wins Kling and Vermeulen managed second-place finishes in their discipline, with Vermeulen finishing second in the 1,000-free and Kling runner-up in the 100-breaststroke.
In diving, Biola saw second-place finishes in all three events it participated in. Eliana Cote held things down for BU in the 1m (204.00) and 3m (1:65.40), while Luke Bartruff continued to find his bearings in the men's 1m (81.85).
Up next for both sides is the meet that's always the pinnacle of the fall calendar, the La Verne Winter Invite. The teams will descend upon East LA College for three days later this month (November 19-21) with a whole lot of NCAA Division II national qualifying times on their mind.
