By Ron Smith
January 17, 2026
 
(FAIRBANKS, Alaska) "It was a wild two days in Alaska," said Westmont Swim head coach Jill Lin of her team's trip to the frozen north to take on the Nanooks of Alaska Fairbanks in a pair of meets. This marks the fourth January in a row that Westmont has traveled to Fairbanks. This is the first year that the Warriors come home with a win.

The Warriors fell in Friday's meet by a score of 100-86. On Saturday, however, Westmont was victorious 95-91.
 
"Every year we know it is going to be such a battle," acknowledged Lin. "We just want to come within range to have an opportunity to beat them. They truly bring out the best in us. We have to challenge ourselves, be really creative and show how the team has to work together to come within range of potentially winning.

"We knew that Friday was going to be hard, but thought it was our best chance at being close. However, Alaska was able to secure the win in a lot of the events and we weren't. We did have some great second, third, fourth place finishes.
 
"The biggest highlight was going one-two-four in the 1650 yard freestyle with Kimberly Greene (18:03.29), Grace McAnear (18:45.09) and Emma Robinson (19:03.01). Our 200 freestylers also had some great races and some really surprising swims. I was so proud of the effort that the swimmers put forward.
 
"Prior to the meet, we talked about operating out of a posture of gratitude and not of scarcity or of all the reasons why we couldn't do well. We battled with illness over winter training and our pool heater went out this week so we had a full day out of the pool. We also had a full day of travel out of the pool. We didn't want to use those as excuses for reasons why we couldn't show up and swim lifetime best times and do well.
 
"The women did such an amazing job of keeping the energy and the excitement up. They all had such a fun time racing and going out there for each other.
 
"It was questionable as to whether Grace would be healthy enough to swim, but she did and came in second. It was an emotional finish to have Kimberly go first and Grace second.
 
"After a couple of those races, Kate Spraul came over to me and said, 'I feel so inspired and I am so grateful and so happy.' That was the sentiment of the whole day. We were electric on the deck."
 
Spraul won Friday's 200 yard freestyle with a time of 2:01.80 while Katlyn McCurtain finished in second, touching the wall in a time of 2:02.06.
 
"Katlyn McCurtain had some incredible finishes, pulling ahead at the very last second to secure the win," recalled Lin.
 
Noelle Landon also captured a first place finish on Friday for the Warriors, completing the 100 yard backstroke in a time of 59.85.
 
"On Saturday, we had a different slate of events," noted Lin. "I wasn't super confident of what we could bring forward in those events. Our team surprised everyone. We had a good medley relay and were close to the Nanooks."
 
Landon, Calica Meliana, Emma Bustamante and Lauren Healy finished in second place with a time of 1:53.27, just 0.67 seconds behind Alaska Fairbank's quartet.
 
"Then, we went one-two-four in the 1000 yard freestyle, which was amazing. Kimberly (10:49.21) dominated the field again and Grace (11:12.54) was able to finish second with a monster swim. She was so tough and so gritty. In one 50-yard split in the middle of the race, Grace surged ahead of the Alaska swimmer next to her and was able to hold her off and keep in second place the rest of the race.
 
"We went on to the 50 yard freestyle," narrated Lin. "We didn't get the win but got second-third-fourth finishes."
 
Spraul finished second (25.70), Landon third (26.00) and Healy fourth (26.32).
 
"Madi Edwards had a great 400 yard individual medley race and was able to secure second place (4:58.19)," reported Lin.
 
"Emma Bustamante has been hit hard with illness, but she secured the win in the 200 yard butterfly (2:18.44) and said, 'I finally feel like myself again.' It was such an amazing race. She held off the Alaska swimmer until the bitter end. It was an amazing finish. It was also huge that Daisy Marquardt (2:24.55) and Izzy Garcia (2:25.17) went three and four.
 
"In the 200 backstroke, Megan Traina (2:12.71) and Katlyn (2:15.99) went one-two. Megan dominated that entire race. I was proud of her for setting the tone early and having the endurance to hold on at the end.
 
"In the 500 freestyle, Kimberly (5:17.91) got first and Kate (5:25.61) got second. Kimberly was a powerhouse this weekend – leading the races early and swimming without fear. She had a season-best time in the 1000 yard freestyle earlier in the day and had a great 500 later. Kate coming in second in that race was really what the team needed.
 
"When we came down to the final event, the 200 yard freestyle relay, we weren't really sure what the score was. The score had been off throughout the meet, so we weren't sure what we needed. I told our A-Team (Spraul, McCurtain, Landon, Healy), 'I think we need to win this to win the dual meet.' They were ready to go. They came out guns blazing and it came down to the last two strokes at the wall. Lauren tried to hold off the anchor for Alaska but just couldn't do it. They had amazing splits and fought for that. Our B-Team (McKenzie Rion, Willow Pezone, Bustamante, Marquardt) getting third was great."
 
The A-Team finished in a time of 1:42.24 while the B-Team posted a time of 1:43.87.
 
Despite getting edged out in the final relay, when all the scores were finally tabulated, Westmont received some very welcome news.
 
"We ended up winning the meet," exclaimed Lin. "What made it all the more exciting was that we just wanted to go out there and swim the absolute best that we could, keep the energy up, focus on how we could support one another, and see that every single person in the lineup had a role to play. They all did it. They all worked for each other and did it together.
 
"It was really sweet, especially for our seniors. It has been a goal of ours for a long time to beat the Nanooks at their home pool. It was cool how it all came together. I am so proud. They had so much grit, so much determination. It was a high energy, really exciting meet. I truly felt like we went to battle and I am so proud of the outcome on both days. I am so proud of their grit and determination and their willingness to go all in."
 
The Warriors have just one more meet before the PCSC Championships that take place in the second week of February. On Friday and Saturday, January 30 and 31, Westmont will travel a significantly shorter distance to compete in an invitational at UC Santa Barbara.