Coach Guarriello's Comments Following Saturday's Win Over Vanderbilt

Feb. 6, 2010

Overall thoughts on the meet
"Today was fun. For the coaches, the swimmers and everyone in the stands, we all really had a good time. The girls were really relaxed and they were more mentally prepared for this meet than they have all season. Being prepared and relaxed coming into the meet helped them pull off a really big win."

On what it says about the team to win by such a margin over a more established program
"I really think we're setting our program up this year to be as successful as we were in the past early on. They're a mature group and we swam a tough schedule this year. Swimming against schools like LSU, Texas A&M and Houston have prepared us to come in and really handle ourselves well against a seasoned team - even though their still a young team - like Vanderbilt."

On who stood out during today's meet
"Today was the ultimate team effort. Everybody got together and contributed and there were girls who were actually upset if they didn't score a point in their event. It was a great team effort by everyone from our sprinters to our distances swimmers to our divers. Our fly was really solid and our backstroke dominated."

On the performance of junior Kylie Kastes
"Kylie actually stepped out of her normal fly events and swam a lot of freestyle for us today, and really showed her leadership and her experience. She was a little afraid of the 500, but she knew she had a job to do today which was to score points. And she did it."

On what this meet does for the team heading into the Conference USA Championship
"A meet like this builds confidence. I think that's something we might have been lacking earlier in the season. We're still tired, and swimming well while we're tired is going to help them going into a big conference meet when they'll be well rested. They know how to swim their races now and that was the goal of the meet."