WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic University women's swimming & diving team defeated local foe Marymount in a 191-61 dual meet victory on Saturday afternoon at the DuFour Center.
The Cardinals swept the top three spots in seven events for the team's fifth meet victory of the season. The Cards got things started right away in the 200-medley relay to pick up 15 points in the meet's first event.
Megan Leibfreid, Madeline Doucette, Angela Castano, and Alexa Hipp combined for a winning time of 1:56.17. A second Cardinal foursome consisting of Emily Earley, Hannah Corcoran, Emily Tighe, and Kate Von Heeringen followed for second with a relay time of 2:00.72.
Catholic swept the first, second, and third in the 1000-freestyle distance event as Mary Pilkington touched first at 11:45.19. Teammates Shannon Raue (12:15.25) and Jacquelyn Bouvier (12:26.80) followed in second and third for a total of 16 points in the event. Junior Caroline Beal followed with a first-place finish in the 200-freestyle at 2:05.80.
Leibfreid led the charge in the 100-backstroke at 1:03.11, and Kelly Smith (1:03.91) and Earley (1:05.42) took second and third for another sweep. The one-two-three sweeps continued in the 200-butterfly as Kayla Ruffo won at 2:28.98, followed by Cagney Boyle (2:34.97) and Grace Smith (2:35.81), respectively.
Catholic took the top three spots in the 50-freestyle event as Beal touched first at 25.95, followed by Megan Lowell and Marie Redoutey.
Hipp grabbed first in the 200-backstoke at 2:14.74, followed by teammates Earley (2:20.57) and Colleen McDonald (2:21.51) for a total of 16 points. Elizabeth Spernal took first in the 500-freestyle at 5:39.19 and fellow seniors Kassi Grumski and Bouvier followed in second and third for another sweep.
The Cardinals closed the meet with a sweep in the 200-freestyle relay for 15 more points. Castano, Hipp, Leibfreid, and Beal teamed up for a winning time of 1:45.43.
Mackenzie Earley and Colleen O'Callaghan led on the boards for Catholic in the 1-meter and 3-meter events. O'Callaghan had the highest score in 1-meter at 142.10 while Earley got a 162.95 to lead the 3-meter.
Before the meet, head coach Paul Waas and his team honored seniors Jacquelyn Bouvier, Emily Earley, Mackenzie Earley, Kassi Grumski, Isabella Laccetti, Elizabeth Spernal and Emily Tighe at the team's final home meet.
The Landmark Conference Championships await the Cardinals after a week off, beginning Friday, February 14. Catholic competes against the rest of the conference over three days of qualifying preliminaries and the finals at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center on Feb. 14-16.
