ARLIGNTON, Va. — The Catholic University women's swimming and diving team defeated local rivals Marymount (Va.) in a Pope's Cup match-up in their first contest of 2024 on Friday afternoon. The Cardinals won 10 events to secure a comfortable 160-101 triumph over the Saints.

Maura Sadowski led the way with two individual event wins while also contributing to Catholic's victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The sophomore swam the opening leg of the relay before handing it over to Ava Snyder, Grace Kelly and Emily Blaskovich who went 1:45.09 to win the event by more than three seconds.

Sadowski also won the 200 free (2:02.56) and the 500 free (5:28.47) while freshman Tara Wiarda matched her with two individual victories. Wiarda won the 50-yard backstroke with a personal-best swim of 27.16, just beating Marymount's Alex Pette to the wall by .45 seconds before swimming 1:01.99 to win the 100 back by nearly two seconds.

Kelly grabbed an individual victory in the 50-yard breastroke (32.62) while three other Cardinals won events. Caitlin Heise won the only event she competed in, producing a time personal-best time of 11:33.94 to win the 1,000-yard freestyle by just over five seconds. Bella Mugno triumphed in the 200 IM (2:22.07) while Alexandra Tomaine earned a victory by over two seconds in the 100-yard butterfly (1:05.91).

The Cardinals are right back at it tomorrow when they travel south to do battle with the Eagles of Mary Washington. The meet is set to begin at 1 p.m.