LA MIRADA, Calif. — Biola Women's Swimming was in front from the opening relay until the final moments Friday afternoon at Lansing Pool, but a heartbreaking disqualification in the meet's final event allowed Alaska Fairbanks to escape with a 103-102 dual-meet victory.

The Eagles set the tone immediately, winning the 200-yard medley relay in 1:48.55 and establishing a lead they would maintain throughout the afternoon. The Eagles' B team placed third to give Biola the strong start it needed.

Esther Swanson provided two of Biola's biggest individual victories and finished as the Eagles' high-point scorer with 18 points. Swanson swept the sprint freestyle events, touching first in the 50 free with a season-best 24.84 before returning to win the 100 free in another season-best 54.81. She had to book it, with a margin of victory less than a 10th in each race.

Senior Allison Yancey added 13 individual points. Yancey finished just five-hundredths behind Swanson for second in the 50 free before leading a major Biola points haul in the 200 backstroke. The school-record holder won the event in 2:10.40, with Chloe Colvard following in second at 2:11.00. Yancey took over the lead with a phenomenal final 100 yards.

Biola continued to accumulate valuable depth points throughout the meet. Malia Ciolli was runner-up in both the 400 IM (4:45.41) and 200 breaststroke (2:27.34), while Colvard added a third-place result in the 400 IM. Freshman Izzy Maust placed second in the 200-freestyle at 1:59.57, and Paige Fast delivered another runner-up finish with a 5:27.24 in the 500 free. Those last two had the moments of the meet for Biola, as Fast used a flying final 50 to steal second place away from UAF and Maust had a blistering final 50 yards in the DQ'd final relay. 

Biola's A relay touched first in the deciding race, seemingly securing the dual victory, but a disqualification removed the winning finish from the results. Alaska Fairbanks was elevated to first, Biola's B relay took second in 1:43.52, and the point swing gave the Nanooks the narrowest possible win, 103-102.

The ending carried an unusual bit of history. Friday marked Alaska Fairbanks' first dual at Lansing Pool, and the programs' previous meeting in 2018 was also decided by the final relay — that time with Biola winning the closing race to pull out a 104-98 victory. 

"Our women raced well today, and I was encouraged by how much their racing ability has improved over the past two weeks," said head coach Nate Harding.

With Alaska Fairbanks sponsoring only women's swimming, Biola's men spent the afternoon racing the clock and one another. Ben Smith led the sprint group with a season-best 21.76 in the 50-freestyle, while Koen Vos paced the 200-freestyle (1:44.46) and 100-freestyle (48.01). Vos swam like a Boss all afternoon long.

Zach Ponder posted the top marks in both the 400 IM (4:13.51) and 200-backstroke (1:58.00), while Wyatt Miner edged teammate Jarrod Coy in the 200-butterfly with a pool-record 1:53.85. Miner also joined Ben Smith, James Darcy and Koen Vos on the 200 free relay, which closed the men's racing with a pool-record 1:25.17.

"On the men's side, it was exciting to see a few pool records fall," Harding said. "Overall, I was pleased with how both programs put their races together in our first opportunity to compete in some of the longer events this season. There is still plenty for us to build on, but this was a positive step forward."

The Eagles' divers were also in action on Friday up at Pepperdine. They will close out their meet and scoring tomorrow morning. So check tomorrow's recap for full results.

"We look forward to rounding out the weekend at the Redlands Pentathlon tomorrow," Harding said.