SPOKANE, Wash.  Whitman swimming split its Northwest Conference meet Saturday at Whitworth University, with the Blues women earning a 143-119 victory while the Pirates men took a 157.5-102.5 decision.

The victory for Whitman's women at the Whitworth pool is a rarity, as records indicate it has been at least 10 years since the Blues were able to defeat a hosting Pirates squad. The Blues women won last year's home meet against the Pirates at Harvey Pool in Walla Walla.

Whitworth's women used early results to stake the home team to a 30-25 lead after the relay and two individual events, but the results in the 100-yard backstroke rallied the Blues.

Mara Selznick won the event with a time of 1 minute, 0.33 seconds, and teammates Jill Low (1:07.21) and Jessica Luong (1:11.75) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, to pull Whitman even at 37-37.

The next two events lifted the Pirates above the tie, only to have a Blues sweep in the 50 freestyle invert the lead.

Zoë Hill touched first, in 25.36 seconds, followed by Gaby Thomas (25.85) and Melia Matthews (26.82). The trio produced 16 points to provide Whitman with its first lead of the afternoon, at 66-65.

A 1-2-5 finish by Tara Stahlecker, Matthews and Leah Petrini, respectively, in the 100 free padded the cushion (80-70), but Whitworth inched close in the 200 back, then seized the lead again (97-91) after the 200 breaststroke.

Once again, though, Whitman's freestylers stepped to the forefront, but this time it was the distance group.

Sarah Davidson -- who earlier had won the 1,650 freestyle in the second event -- added a victory in the 500 free (5:24.93). Abbey Felley's (5:38.18) third place and Maddy Gyongyosi's (5:49.42) fifth place combined to give the Blues a 104-103 advantage.

The narrow margin grew with a 1-3-4 finish from Hill, Katie Davidson and Petrini in the 100 butterfly, then ballooned to a 15-point cushion after Selznick, Stahlecker and Erin Tyler finished first, fourth and fifth in the 200 individual medley, the penultimate event on the schedule.

Mathematically all the Blues needed was to not disqualify both of their entries in the 400 free relay and they would earn the win.

A moral victory such as that wasn't going to be good enough.

Thomas, Hill, Matthews and Stahlecker teamed up to win the relay, with Low, Felley, Katie and Sarah Davidson combining to finish third.

Over the final four events Whitman outscored the Pirates 52-22 to erase a 97-91 deficit.

Whitworth's men, unbeaten in league action, were able to nab the lead with an opening-relay victory, then maintained its edge despite Clark Sun's winning efforts for Whitman.

Sun, a 2017 NCAA championship-meet qualifier, finished his afternoon with an unblemished schedule, pocketing four first place swims.

He won the 200 free (1:44.00), 50 free (21.54) and 100 free (47.47), then anchored the winning 400 free relay at meet's end.

Jared Sears was a major contributor along the way for the Blues, scoring a second in the 50, a pair of thirds in the 100 free and 100 back, and also swam on the winning 400 free relay.

It was a long day -- in both yardage and time -- for Lucas Bergeson. He was second in the 1,650 and 500 freestyles, sixth in the 200 free, and swam on a third-place "B" 400 free relay.

Racking up second place points all afternoon was Fisher Munro. His 200 medley relay opened the afternoon with a second-place finish, and he later added seconds in the 200 and 100 butterfly events. Near the end of the meet he scored Whitman points with a fifth place in the 200 IM.

Whitman head coach Jennifer Blomme found a lot of good in her team's efforts on the final day of the regular season.

"I'm so proud of our women," stated Blomme. "They competed with a lot of confidence today and didn't let up even as the lead went back and forth throughout the meet. That's a huge win for them today.

"Our men were up against some tough competition, but I'm very pleased with how they stayed in the game mentally. That was our top priority."

Whitman next heads to the 2018 NWC Championship Meet on Feb. 9-11. The three-day event takes place at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington.