November had been physically and mentally draining for the Penn State women's swimming and diving team, but they finished the month with style.

On Tuesday the Nittany Lions (4-1) defeated West Chester (2-1) 137-90 at the McCoy Natatorium and finished November with a 3-0 record.

"We swam well and took it up a level considering it was right before break," Larissa Kavchok, who led the Lions in the 200-yard individual medley win, said. "Everybody went out and raced really well."

For the second straight week, several freshmen contributed. Freshman Nikki Collins won the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:58.37. The time is the second best in Penn State history. Freshmen Erin Morris and Claire Hawley picked up individual victories in the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly, respectively.

Junior co-captain Courtney Stanchock won the 50-yard freestyle and was part of the winning 400-yard medley relay team along with teammates Amberle Biedermann, Kerry Smith, and Margy Keefe.

Kavchok said Thanksgiving break was a time to evaluate where the team is.

"Within our training, we're not tapering down in yardage yet," Kavchok said. "We're still going up in our amount of work and yardage we swim. We're still tired and sore and we keep bringing it in our races."

The diving team performed well and was again led by Lisa Silvestri who won the 1-meter for the third week in a row.

"I've learned two new dives on the one meter, and I'm working on improving and polishing them," Silvestri said.

Silvestri is the only female in the country who performs the reverse two-and-a-half dive on the one-meter board.

"It's tough to learn so I'm not expecting to get all eight's on the dive," Silvestri said. "Being the only girl doing the dive, I'm just happy that I can work on it."

The women's diving team is right on track as it approaches the Georgia Invitational.

"We're not going through anything tough," Silvestri said.

"Right now we're just working on the little things."