Quotes On Tulane Swimming & Diving's Signing Class
Nov 16, 2014 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Tulane Head Coach Katie Robinson
On the overall signing class
"We've got five signees so far. Four of them are swimmers and one of them is a diver, and we're really excited about the fresh, new blood that they'll bring to the dynamic of our team. They're very good, very established swimmers in the country and even have international experience. We're looking for them to really help set us up to be really great in the near future."
On Natalie Clausen
"Natalie is originally from Wisconsin but recently moved to Florida. We were able to connect really well with her and share all of the great things we can offer her as a University in the South. She really clicked with us well, came in for a visit fell in love with Tulane. We share that feeling right with her. She comes from very good programs, both in Wisconsin and now in Florida, with very well established coaches and very well established teams. She's going to be a huge dynamic in the American Athletic Conference and her times in the mile would put her at the top of the conference, which is exactly what we need to see."
On Nina Gonzalez
"Nina is a bright young lady and we're excited to add her to the mix as well. She's got some power in the sprint and she can swim all the way up to the 500 as well. Her fly has really come along, especially this last summer, so we're looking use her both in the freestyle and the fly events. Her spirit for Tulane is definitely noticeable and she is someone who fell in love with the school as well when she visited. You could tell that just by the way she smiled when and talked about how awesome it would be to go to school here. We welcome her with arms wide open."
On Shelly Zelnick
"Shelly is a great recruit of ours that we're excited to add to the mix. She's strong in the IM, also strong in the backstroke and can swim a very good 200 freestyle as well. She's so versatile and we're so excited to have an athlete that can do so many events so well. Props to her coaches who have been able to train her on such a wide variety and be successful in all of those."
On Emily Ramier
"We're excited about Emily, too. She's a 400 IMer, a 200 IMer and she also very strong in the 200 breaststroke. Her best times are from her short-course meter times in Canada, so that gives me a lot of belief that she's going to be great when she transitions to the short-course yard pool, which is what we train in and compete in in the NCAA meets and such. Her time in the 400 IM is very good and I can't wait to train her."
On how this class will blend with the team slated to return next year
"We're losing a flyer, a backstroker and some breaststrokers. Basically, this team is going to develop very well in the near future with the addition of these five incoming freshmen. We're going to be sad to lose the leadership of these seniors, but these girls coming in have great ability. They've got some shoes to fill, but I believe they're going to do very well in their roles.
On the character of the signing class
"Each of these signees brings a strong, internal drive for improvement in the pool. Not only do their current times and scores place them in scoring positions at our American Athletic Conference, they come ready and willing to work with a focus on the details to swim faster and dive better. The end point for them was not to sign with a university, but to attend a university with a team where they would be pushed to reach even further than they've been. They have the opportunity here at Tulane to earn championship titles in their events at conference and truly put Tulane on the map for our sport. What's even more exciting is that these women are not just fast swimmers - they are the whole package. They are intelligent, passionate, coachable and inspiring in their own ways. They have each mentioned their desire to continue our community service team commitment, which is a very selfless thing for women of their age and yet a big part of who we are as a team here at Tulane. We look to help these women grow and develop further through the lessons learned in swimming as they become influential women in society."
Tulane Diving Coach Chris Devine
On Caroline McCleary
"She's a two-time National Junior qualifier in the 16-18 age group so she is going to come in and add some significant quality and depth to an already pretty good team. She is an extremely hard worker based on talking to her coaches and some people in the diving world that I have known and trusted over time. She gets in there, she wants to get the job done and she's also a very good competitor. She'll definitely add some quality to our team."
On how McCleary will blend with the divers slated to return next season
"What's really exciting is the level that Caroline is diving at right now is not quite to the level of Lauren [Arnold] and Maren [Kjell], but she's right there. Having her as a freshman come in and compete with them on a daily basis is going to help push them in their final year here. Having two seniors is nice. They know the system, obviously, well enough after being here going on two and a half years now and that will help bring Caroline along. Year by year, we try and bring in the same level of talent or better in order to push the current student-athletes and to just build the program."
On the building process of the Tulane diving program
"It's 10 years in the past, but Katrina did a number on this program's ability to continue to get bigger and bigger. I'm going to try and continue to get more numbers in here, get more high-quality numbers. Probably six is the size team we're looking to get. Whether that happens this year or in the coming years remains to be seen, but with my history, where I come from and my background as a world-level athlete I want to make this program get as close to that as we possibly can."
