The Wilmington College women's swimming team won nine of 11 events in overwhelming visiting Defiance College by a 135-56 margin Saturday (Oct. 19).

Addie Roberts was part of a trio of those victories as she won the 400-meter freestyle (5:05.69) while swimming the freestyle segment of the winning 400-meter medley relay and the second leg of the victorious 400-meter freestyle relay.

For the swimmers, winning by such a decisive margin provides warranted confidence, but also stresses the need to continue working hard.

Coach Trip Breen expressed a qualified level of satisfaction with the team's effort.

"I expect great racing and a great effort, and we got mostly that," he said, noting they need to improve in putting in complete performances. "We have to fight through fatigue and finish our races with energy.

"The season is relatively new and that takes time to develop," he added. "We will continue to focus on that more in practice."

However, Breen held nothing back in praising his team in other key aspects of the sport.

"I want to see great sportsmanship and a great team atmosphere — they over-delivered on both of those today," he said.

Joining Roberts on the winning relay teams were Victoria Burcham, Rachel Drake and Lydia Wolcott on the 400 medley relay and Caroline Kruczynski, Rachel Routzong and Elyse Spraul on the 400 freestyle.

Liz Miller won the 800-meter freestyle (10:45.05) and Rebecca Scherer took the 200-meter freestyle (1:56.21), while Lisa Fetters captured the 50-meter freestyle (30:75). Kruczynski won the 100-meter freestyle (1:07.73) and Burcham won the 100-meter backstroke.

Drake placed first in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:24.41).

With a great start to the season in their pockets, Breen is looking for more of the same as they work on improving throughout these early season meets.

Also, he expects to see the newest members of the team — four freshman swimmers — continue to make an impact.

"I think all the freshmen we have are a great match for the returning swimmers. Our returning swimmers have been very welcoming," he said. "Some freshmen were nervous in their first collegiate swim meet, but as they gain experience and confidence, those results will continue to improve.

"The work ethic this entire team has shown so far is going to provide results," he said.

Wilmington visits Baldwin-Wallace next Saturday.