BOYDS, Md. — The Catholic University women's swimming and diving team sits atop the standings after day one of the Landmark Conference Championships, leading Scranton by 14 points.
The successful day began in the preliminary rounds, where across both the men's and women's teams, 17 personal bests were set along with 15 qualifications to the A Finals and 10 to the B finals.
Freshman Katie Herman had a day to remember, announcing herself to the entire conference in style in the 50-yard freestyle prelims. The three-time Landmark Conference Athlete of the Week flew to the wall, clocking a time of 23.44 to set a new Landmark Conference and championship-meet record.
She followed that impressive performance by swimming just eight one-hundredths of a second slower to claim gold for Catholic in the event. Her preliminary time garnered her an NCAA B Cut which could see her earn a berth to NCAA DIII Championships. Emily Albans followed Herman to the finish, also picking up a sixth-place finish to earn some important points for the Cardinals.
Ava Snyder swam to an individual victory in the 500 free. She clocked in 5:09.20 to beat Kaylee Blair of Elizabethtown by over two seconds as freshman Maura Sadowski came to the wall fifth. Snyder bettered her second-place time in the event at championships last year by nearly five seconds en route to the gold medal.
The quartet of Herman, Snyder, Albans and Emma Gould touched second in the 200-yard freestyle relay, coming in just behind the team from Drew. Catholic were beaten by less than half a second, posting a time of 1:37.81 as the team outswam Susquehanna by .15 seconds for silver.
Diver Lucy McHale also grabbed a silver medal in the 1-meter platform competition. The freshman earned the runner-up finish behind Scranton's Jeanna Gailius as Kaitlyn Caple finished sixth in the event.
The duo of Angele Parral and Bella Mugno grabbed fifth and sixth place finishes in the A Final of 200-yard individual medley, clocking in at 2:12.55 and 2:14.36, respectively.
The Cardinals will look to continue the momentum tomorrow. Preliminary races will begin at 10 a.m. and finals are scheduled for 5:30 p.m., with diving prelims set to take place in between the two sessions.
