Swimming & Diving To Open Season With Texas 2-Step
Oct 7, 2010 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Oct. 7, 2010
Video Interview With Sophomores G.Tarka and E.Whitaker
Coach Guarriello's Comments Entering The Season-Opening Weekend
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University women's swimming and diving team will open the 2010-11 season over the weekend when the Green Wave travel to the Lone Star State for a pair of meets.
The Green Wave will participate in the North Texas Relays in Mansfield on Friday, Oct. 8, before battling North Texas and Arkansas in Denton in a double-dual meet on Saturday, Oct. 9. The North Texas Relay is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. while the double-dual meet will start at 9 a.m.
"We're very excited about both meets this weekend," Tulane head coach Lena Guarriello said. "I could see the positive anticipation of racing building as the week has progressed. We're starting off with some great competition on Friday and then going head-to-head with Arkansas and North Texas on Saturday."
This weekend's meets mark the opening of Tulane's second season back in the pool as the program suspended operations following Fall 2005. Last season, the Wave went 2-7 in dual-meet action, finished fourth at the NT Relays and wrapped up the year with a solid fifth-place showing at the 2010 Conference USA Women's Swimming & Diving Championship.
The team returns 15 letterwinners from a year ago, including C-USA Newcomer of the Year Kylie Kastes and all-league honoree Kayla Alf-Huynh. Also returning for Tulane are sophomores Kristin Ates, Gisele Calderon, Erin Cunningham, Jillian Daleiden, Allie Evans, Kristine Gu, Bolton Harris, Rebekah Harris, Emily Needham, Lauren Pfohl, Hayley Tilton and Elizabeth Whitaker.
Joining the program for the 2010-11 season are six freshmen and a junior transfer. Cari Caprio, Caitlin Corcoran, Sadie Eicher, Shelby Kiser, Mekala Pavlin and Rachel Ranson all join the Tulane program via the high school ranks while Hagar Elgendy transferred in after spending the previous two seasons at the University of Miami.
"We're finishing up week seven of training with no real competition to speak of. It's time to race and our team is ready. I could feel the excitement from the girls today and I think it will carry through the rest of the weekend. We're looking to our returners for experience and excited to see what the newcomers can do against and SEC program and a strong Sun Belt competitor."
While Saturday's double-dual meet is of the normal variety, Friday's North Texas Relays exclusively features three-and four-member relay events. Joining Tulane in the relay meet are host North Texas, along with Arkansas, Incarnate Word, SMU and TCU.
The meet begins with the 3x100 fly, followed by the 3x100 back, 3x100 breast and 4x200 free. From there, the teams will enjoy a 15-minute break before taking part in the 50-100-15-200 free ladder, the 4x100 medley, the 4x50 free and the 3x500 free. After one more 15-minute break is the 4x100 individual medley and the event wraps up with the 4x100 free.
"The relay meet is a great way to start the season for any team," Guarriello said. "The outcome of your race is completely dependent upon the `team effort' of your relay. It helps to know that if you don't have the swim of your life, you've got your teammates to back you up. If you have a great swim, you've helped to put your teammates in a position to win. There is a sense of camaraderie in relays that cannot be achieved by swimming individual events alone, and it's just plain fun.
"Friday's meet will be a good warm-up for Saturday. The team will get to see both of the other teams compete and be able to mentally and physically prepare for their individual races on Saturday."
Following Saturday's double-dual meet, the Green Wave return to action on Friday, Oct. 15, when they travel across town to the Lakefront to take on intra-city rival UNO at 7 p.m. From there, Tulane will play back-to-back home meets at the Reily Student Recreation Center Natatorium, hosting LSU on Oct. 29 and Florida International on Nov. 13.
Players Mentioned
