RICHMOND, Va. - The Catholic University women's swimming & diving team came up just short Saturday afternoon in a dual meet loss to Randolph-Macon, 134-127, at the Collegiate School Aquatic Center.
It came down to the last relay of the meet as the Yellow Jackets prevailed for first place by less than a second to earn eleven points and the win.
The competition marked the second time Catholic competed against Randolph-Macon this season after the Cardinals took first place out of 12 competing teams in the 2019 Randolph-Macon College Yellow Jacket Invitational with 1621 points in two days of swimming on Nov. 23-24.
The Cards opened the meet with a second place finish in the 200-medley relay to take four points. Megan Leibfreid (28.71), Madeline Doucette (32.19), Grace Smith (28.86), and Caroline Beal (26.69) combined for a 1:56.45 time.
Catholic swept the top three spots in the meet's long-distance event, the 1000-freestyle, for a total of 16 points. Kelly Smith took first at 11:24.90, followed by teammates Claire Laux (11:28.72) and Elizabeth Spernal (11:45.37), respectively.
The Cardinals followed with another one-two-three sweep in the 200-freestyle as Kate Von Heeringen touched first at 2:04.92. Emma Gould followed for second at 2:06.81, and Colleen McDonald took third with a time of 2:07.41.
Alexa Hipp won the 100-backstroke event by 0.03 seconds at 1:01.96 for nine points. Doucette then took second in the 100-breaststroke with her time of 1:10.55.
Catholic took second through fourth in the 50-freestyle sprint to grab nine total points. Leibfreid touched second at 26.06, followed by Angela Castano (26.60) and Von Heeringen (27.01).
Hipp (2:16.05) and Beal (2:16.83) finished second and third in the 200-backstroke, and then Doucette (1:14.20) and Cagney Boyle (1:17.68) took the same spots in the 200-breaststroke.
Kelly Smith earned her second event win of the day in the 500-freestyle with her time of 5:40.80. Boyle then touched first in the 200-individual medley with a winning time of 2:21.24.
Randolph-Macon won the deciding event to close the meet in the 400-freestyle relay. The Cardinals placed second as Von Heeringen, Gould, Leibfreid, and Beal teamed up for a time of 3:51.35.
Catholic returns home for its next meet on Saturday, January 25 against local foe Division I Howard. The meet time against the Bison is set for 2 p.m.
