WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic University women's swimming & diving team closed out its regular season Saturday afternoon against NCAA Division I Howard University. The Cardinals traveled to Burr Pool in Northwest and lost to the Bison by a final score of 182-98.

The defeat closed out Catholic's dual meet season as head coach Paul Waas led the women's squad to a 6-2 record. Last year, Catholic defeated the Bison 186-89 at home to wrap up their regular season campaign. 

The women opened the meet with a third place finish in the 200-medley relay, touching for a 1:56.69 time. Megan Leibfreid (29.55), Molly Donnellan (33.57), Angela Castano (27.50), and Caroline Beal (26.07) combined to take two points for the visitors.  

Kelly Smith followed with a second place performance in the 1000-freestyle with her 11:20.29 time. The freshman contributed more points later in the 200-backstroke, touching third at 2:21.52. Fellow freshman Kate Von Heeringen added two second place finishes of her own in the 200-freestyle (2:04.22 and 500-freestyle (5:37.58) events.

Castano earned Catholic's first event win of the day in the 50-freestyle sprint. Her 25.63 time earned nine points for the Cardinals.

Cagney Boyle (2:19.52) and Emily Tighe (2:24.51) finished second and third to take seven points from the 200-IM event. 

Catholic collected nine points on the boards, taking second, third, and fourth in the 1-meter diving event. Mackenzie Earley led with a 134.85 score, and Colleen O'Callaghan (120.44) and Sophia Washington (73.80) followed. 

Catholic heads to the Landmark Conference Championships to compete for the league's Championship Titles. The three-day conference championship meet is set to kick off Friday, February 16 at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center. Information about the championship schedule and ticket pricing can be found on the Landmark Conference website.