Coach Robinson's Comments Heading Into The Pearland Invitational
Nov 20, 2014 | Women's Swimming and Diving
On this weekend's meet, the Pearland Invitational
"This is a multi-day event. It's a three-day format and we have events on first, second and third day - all different events and each person on the team will swim one if not two events each day. We have relays as well every single day - a couple on each of the first two days and one relay on the last day. It's very similar to our championship meet for the American Athletic Conference, which happens in February, so in a sense this is a dress rehearsal for that. It's prelims and finals, so it's different from what we've seen so far this year, where they have to qualify for finals in the morning, re-swim the event and hope to move up and swim faster at night."
On the team's preparation for the Pearland Invitational
"We've prepared a little differently. We've rested the last two days and we'll be able to see them peak a little bit. It's the same amount of rest we gave them last year and they performed really well, achieving 100 percent season-best times at that time in addition to 34 lifetime-best times last year. We've prepared very similarly this year and we look forward to seeing some fast swims put up for our record books."
On the team's performance to date
"We've seen a good progression. I think we've seen some people swim times that are way ahead of where they were last year at this point and that's exciting to see. In preparing for this meet, we had some one-on-one meetings with everybody where we talked about some goals, so there's a lot of focus and a lot of intensity coming up for this meet. Everyone knows what they want to do in every single event that they're swimming. There's a lot of detail work that went into the planning of how they're going to approach their races, how they're going to finish and pacing. We've done some detail work and focusing in on what they need to accomplish and what they hope to accomplish. We're excited to get out there and see what they can do."
On the invitational field and her goals for the team
"There's four teams - Houston is hosting it in addition to North Texas, Rice University and us. It's a small, intimate environment, which I think our girls will really flourish in. It's a competition against teams that we've seen before - not necessarily this year, but in the past. We look forward to using that intimate racing environment to really boost us up to a whole other level and really see what we can do as a team in addition to everyone's individual goals."
On who she thinks is primed to have a standout meet
"Gosh, everyone. I'm excited to see everyone race. It's going to be good. We're going to have a great meet and I'm just looking forward to seeing people get their hands on the wall, look at the clock and be ecstatic about the times that they've gone. I'm hoping that we can get some wins. Last year, we had some wins. Mia won the 50 free and 100 breast, and we'd love to see some more wins as well."
On the additional pressure and endurance required in a championship-format meet
"It's a marathon of an event because you have morning on the first day and finals that night. Then you go right into the next day with prelims in the morning and finals that night and then into the next day. Every time you get up on the block, you have to perform at the absolute best of your ability. We've talked about having to manage your energy levels throughout the three-day period. There are going to be some swims where maybe you don't' swim as well as you would like. You just have to pick yourself up, learn from that swim and do better the next time. That's where I believe that character in swimming is huge. That's a big piece we're looking to build and we have worked to build so far."
