Biola Women Out-Score Pepperdine By 4 Points To Win 2021 PCSC Championships

2021 PCSC SWIM & DIVE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, April 14 – Friday, April 16, 2021
• William Woolet Jr. Aquatics Center
• Irvine, California
• Short Course Yards (SCY)
• Championships Site
• Results Available On Meet Mobile Under “2021 PCSC Swim  and Dive Championships”
• Day 1 Recap
• Day 2 Recap

After the Pepperdine women pulled into the lead on day 2 of the PCSC Swim & Dive Championships, they didn’t quite have what it would have taken to hold off Biola University. On the final day of racing, Biola jumped to the top of the team standings and out-scored Pepperdine by only 4 points. On the men’s side, Biola managed to retain their lead throughout the meet and wound up with 957 points to Condordia’s 618 and Fresno Pacific’s 529.

Final Team Scores

Women

1. Biola University – 1494 University
2. Pepperdine University – 1490 Points
3. Loyola Marymount University – 831.50 Points
4. Concordia University – 819 Points
5. Azusa Pacific University – 807 Points
6. University of California, Santa Cruz – 582 Points
7. University of Alaska Fairbanks – 373 Points
8. Westmount College – 373 Points
9. Fresno Pacific University – 364.50 Points
10. Arizona Christian University – 286.50 Points
11. The Master’s University – 237.50 Points
12. Simpson University – 37 Points

Men

1. Biola University – 957 Points
2. Concordia University – 618 Points
3. Fresno Pacific University – 529 Points
4. Simpson University – 342 Points
5. University of California, Santa Cruz – 330 Points
6. Arizona Christian University – 171.50 Points
7. The Master’s University

Women’s Recap

Emily Morton started things out with her third individual win of the meet by posting a 2:02.41 200 backstroke, taking gold, and adding to her 200 IM and 400 IM victories from day 1 and day 2. Morton’s victory is a step up from her silver medal performance at 2020 PCSCs where she was second for Pepperdine with a 2:02.01.

In the 2021 final, Morton’s Pepperdine teammate Jasmine Williams notched a 2:03.41 for silver while Liza Parahnevich from Biola was a 2:04.01 for third place.

Following Parahnevich’s bronze medal swim for Biola, Kolya Vos managed to collect gold for the team in the 100 free while Meghan Tolman made it a 1-2 Biola finish with a 51.90. Pepperdine’s Sammie Slater touched with a 52.12 for bronze.

Biola and Pepperdine continued to shut other teams out of a podium finish in the 200 breast as Grace Kling swam to victory in a 2:17.43 while Olivia Kaye was silver for Pepperdine (2:22.77) and Anna Haaksma followed for Biola with a 2:22.88.

It wasn’t until the 200 fly that another team made the podium and in a complete twist, neither Pepperdine nor Biola earned a top 3 finish in the event. Azusa Pacific took gold in the butterfly as Emily Rigsby improved upon her 2020 3rd place finish with a gold medal in the event. Rigsby was a 2:06.48 for the crown while Loyola Marymount’s Taylor Pajunen and Arizona Christian’s Karlie Rimat went 2-3 in a 2:08.04 and 2:08.14.

The session also featured both the 1000 and 1650 freestyles, allowing Pepperdine and Biola to add one more individual win each. In the 1000 free, 200 breast silver medalist Olivia Kaye was the quickest in the field, posting a 10:36.18 for the win. In the 1650, it was Biola’s Audrey Vermeulen with the top time of 17:48.00 to shave nearly 30 seconds off her entry time of 18:17.30.

The night ended with one final battle between Pepperdine and Biola in the form of the 400 freestyle relay. Pepperdine established an early lead in the race and the contingent of Sammie Slater (51.53), Paige Tattersall (51.85), Jasmine Williams (51.91), and Jenna Sanchez (51.17) pulled off the win in a 3:26.46. That’s a new school record for Pepperdine, shaving nearly 2 seconds off last year’s mark of 3:28.32.

Men’s

Iskender Baslakov picked up the first gold medal of the day for Fresno Pacific, notching a 1:50.15 in the 200 backstroke. That’s Baslakov’s 3rd straight individual win of the meet, having previously placed 1st in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke with times of 20.68 and 48.91, respectively.

Jackson Black and Tanner Smith both reach the 200 backstroke podium for Biola, hitting a 1:52.31 and 1:53.06, respectively.

Fresno Pacific made it 2 straight wins in the 100 free as Alex Ivakin took gold in the 100 free by swimming a 45.08. That was 0.85 seconds quicker than his entry time of 45.08. Christopher Haygood and Chadd Marer also made it to the podium as they took silver in a 45.66 and bronze with a 45.75 for Concordia and Simpson University, respectively.

Marer’s Simpson University teammate Tom Higdon swam to victory in the 200 breast by hitting a 2:00.30. That was more than 5 seconds faster than Higdon’s time from last year’s championships final when he hit swam a 2:05.44 for the bronze medal. 500 free and 400 IM victor Kyle Benjamin from Concordia tried to make it 3-for-3 wins at the meet but wound up taking silver to Higdon with a 2:02.17. Dylan Sewell was a 2:04.56, collecting bronze for Fresno Pacific, dropping one position from his second-place finish last year.

The 200 fly was a big event for Biola as they went 1-2-3-4, led by Patrick Waggoner‘s winning time of 1:50.93. That win for Waggoner allowed him to win his third straight 200 at the meet, already having won the 200 IM (1:52.36) on day 1 and the 200 free (1:41.22) on day 2. In the 200 IM, Waggoner was followed by Matthew Trejo (1:51.94), Michael Maurer (1:54.29), and Dylan Pon (1:57.03).

In the 1650 freestyle, Taylor Steffen was the only swimmer in the field to get under 16 minutes by hitting a 15:58.60 for Concordia. That’s just a few seconds over the 15:51.78 he swam last year to become the second-fastest Concordia man in the event ever. Behind Steffen, Colin Snyder a silver medal-winning 16:57.23 for Biola while teammate Westin Dawe notched a 17:00.68 for bronze.

Biola got one final individual win in as Gabe Weber took the 1000 freestyle with a 9:38.17 which was 16.55 seconds better than his entry time. It was also 5 seconds better than Jonathan Sutherlin‘s 9:43.27 silver medal swim for Concordia and Michael Maurer’s 9:55.74, taking bronze for Biola.

The meet wrapped up with the men’s 400 freestyle relay in which Biola’s contingent pulled off a 3:01.94 victory followed by Fresno Pacific’s 3:04.91 and Concordia’s 3:06.17.