WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic University women's swimming & diving team defeated St. Mary's (Md.) in a 161-99 dual meet victory on Saturday afternoon at the DuFour Center pool. 

The Cardinals extended their meet win streak to four, including a first-place finish in the Yellow Jacket Invitational meet, and moved to 4-1 on the year in dual meets. 

Catholic opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 200-medley relay. Alexa Hipp (29.83), Molly Donnellan (35.41), Emily Tighe (29.70), and Emma Gould (27.45) combined for a 2:02.39 relay time that picked up four points. 

Kelly Smith earned the team's first event win in the 1000-freestyle with a winning time of 11:40.81. Teammate Elizabeth Spernal took second in the distance event at 11:46.08.

The Cards then swept the top three spots in the 200-freestyle as Gould (2:04.32), Kate Von Heeringen (2:04.82), and Shannon Raue (2:15.38) went one-two-three to grab 16 total points. 

Junior Caroline Beal touched first in the 100-backstroke with a time of 1:03.54. Madeline Doucette then took first in the 100-breaststroke at 1:12.00.

Tighe got a win in the 200-butterfly with her time of 2:32.29 that beat the St. Mary's swimmer by fourth tenths of a second. 

Hipp and Beal took the top two spots in the 200-backstroke as Hipp won at 2:16.82, followed by Beal at 2:18.15. Smith earned her second win of the afternoon with a 5:43.74 time in the 500-freestyle. 

Donnellan took first in the 200-individual medley with her time of 2:27.66. 

The Cardinals closed the meet with a win in the 200-freestyle relay as Beal, Hipp, Gould, and Megan Leibfreid teamed up for a 1:45.43 winning time to earn eleven points.

On the boards, the Cards competed as exhibition divers. Senior Mackenzie Earley qualified for conference championships with her 1-meter dive score of 132.35 and 3-meter mark at 135.95. Colleen O'Callaghan (107.20) and Nellie Adams (100.50) followed in the 1-meter event. 

Catholic will compete next after the new year against Gettyburg on Sunday, Jan. 12 on the road.