WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Catholic University women's swimming and diving team battled against D1 Howard in dual meet action on Saturday afternoon. Despite a final score of 181-56, the Cardinals registered four first-place finishes and eight third-place finishes. 

The meet was prefaced with a celebration honoring the team's three female seniors who have contributed endlessly to the program over the past four years. Mary Grace Ciaccia, Morgan Sachleben and Alexandra Tomaine all competed in today's meet and came together in the last event to swim the 400-yard freestyle relay as a unit. Tomaine also shined in the 1000-yard freestyle where she recorded a personal best time of 11:37.28 for third place. Sachleben snagged a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:47.03.

Catholic was led by Tara Wiarda who earned two individual second places in the 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard IM. Her back time was 2:14.89 and she finished the IM in 2:20.71. 

Maura Sadowski also had a strong day for the Cardinals with second and third place individual finishes. Her 200-yard freestyle performance earned her second place with a time of 2:02.96 while her 200-yard backstroke time was the third fastest in the event. 

One the diving side, the Cardinals had three athletes compete on the 1-meter board for the first time this season. Mychaela Dunham led the way for Catholic with 133.70 points and a third-place finish. Jo Hewitt came in just behind Dunham, racking up 119.05 points after six dives. Margaret O'Brien rounded out the squad with 77.30 points and a fifth-place finish to add to the scoreboard. 

With one more dual meet left in the regular season, the Cardinals sit at 3-4 overall. They will host Salisbury next Saturday, January 27 at 1 p.m. before gearing up for Landmark Conference Championships in mid-February.