ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The St. Catherine University swimming and diving team competed at Macalester College on Saturday for an MIAC Dual against the Scots. St. Kate's scored 109 points to the Scots 187 as the Wildcats had four career best times with seven non-suited best times. Junior Juliet Peterson also had a day with best scores on both boards and the swimmers collected six individual wins, led by senior Olivia Weil. 

The first win of the day came from senior Nicolette Harvey, who controlled the pace in the 1000 freestyle from the opening laps and never wavered, taking the event in 11:49.54.
 
Momentum continued with an outstanding multi-event performance by Weil. She first captured the 200 freestyle in 2:02.94, using a late surge to pull ahead. She returned later to win the 500 free in 5:28.12 and the highlight came in the 400 IM, where Weil secured another win in 4:55.16, edging out Macalester in one of the most tightly contested races of the day.
 
Senior Ella Hochstetler added to the Wildcats' win column with a decisive swim in the 100 backstroke, stopping the clock at 1:03.11, then later chipped in more points with a strong third-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:03.08). Meanwhile, junior Jordyn Grotbo delivered a powerful effort in the 100 freestyle, winning the event in 57.13 before returning to relay duty to close the meet with another strong anchor split.
 
Senior Sierra Hermansen and first-year Olivia Kauffman held their ground in breaststroke, with Hermansen finishing second in the 200 breaststroke (2:44.09) and Kauffman clocking 1:16.03 in the 100. First-year swimmer Karina Chattopadhyay turned in solid distance racing with a 12:22.39 in the 1000 free and later contributing points in shorter freestyle events.
 
On the diving boards, Peterson once again provided reliable scoring with a second-place finish on the 1-meter (157.45) and another runner-up on the 3-meter (171.20), giving St. Catherine crucial diving points in the middle of the meet.
 
The afternoon concluded with one of St. Catherine's best collective efforts: the 200 freestyle relay. The quartet of Shea Bradley, Grotbo, Harvey, and Hochstetler combined for second place finished in 1:44.22 and securing the final scoring strike of the meet.

The Wildcats return to the pool next weekend hosting the WildBear Invite for the mid-season three day meet. The meet kicks off on Thursday concluding Saturday with Concordia University St. Paul, Northern State University, Jamestown University and Augsburg University all in attendance.