Coach Guarriello's Comments Following Saturday's Double-Dual Meet

Jan. 8, 2011

Overall thoughts on her team's performances during its trip to the West Coast
"This team has improved tremendously over the course of the past year. As coaches, we couldn't help but compare the team's performance in practice and competition to this same trip last year. As a group, we've matured intellectually and athletically. We had several high-quality training sessions that resulted in two wins for the trip."

On Tulane's 200 free relay team posting the fourth-fastest time in Aztec Aquaplex history
"Kayla approached the coaches prior to the relay and told us exactly what she was going to work on in spite of being tired. She did exactly what she said and went one of her top performances of the season leading off the relay. With such a strong start, it is very hard to fall too far behind for the other three girls. Rachel saw that she was behind with only one length of the pool left in the race and fought to out-touch the girl from SDSU. A lot of our races had similar stories behind them today. Everyone was tired, but they leaned on mental preparation to get them to the wall before their opponents."

On who else she thought stood out on Saturday
"Bolton Harris had a great 500 today. She has been working hard on her turns and breathing patterns and put them together well for a solid 500 Freestyle. Emily Needham and Lauren Pfohl also had great swims today in the 200 fly and 200 back."

On if her team is where she wants it to be at this point and how much it has improved from a year ago
"The team is exceeding the expectations of the coaches at this point in the season. They have shown so much improvement in their individual races as well as their relay performances. We plan to reevaluate some of the team and individual season goals upon our return to New Orleans because we've already surpassed some of them."