Swimming and Diving Spotlight with Lilly Byrne

NEW ORLEANS - Tulane University freshman Lilly Byrne took some time away from her busy schedule this week to chat with TulaneGreenWave.com about life as a student-athlete and how her transition to college has been in this week's Swimming and Diving spotlight.

As a freshman, how has this transition been?
"It's been pretty good so far.  I love my teammates, they've been so welcoming, and I really like the coaching staff here.  I just think that I chose the right school for me."

What have you enjoyed the most?
"I think my teammates, honestly. We just laugh so much together, and we have a really good time."

What made you decide to come to Tulane?  What other schools were you looking at?
"I was actually looking at quite a lot of schools because I know I'm an indecisive person, so I wanted to know all of my options, but I think Tulane was a really good balance of academics and athletics.  This is obviously a very rigorous school and very selective academically, and I liked that. I liked how Leah (Stancil) was from a big Division I school, so I felt like I could get that big school Division I training with the rigorous academics and kind of a smaller school setting. I really like the campus and the location, and I also just meshed with the team really well on my recruiting trip. I thought it (Tulane) had the best balance of everything I was looking for."

How have you enjoyed living in New Orleans?
"It's been really fun, there's definitely a lot to do!  It's really fun to take recruits down to the French quarter, go shopping with them, and get beignets.  I just really love being in a city, there's a lot more to do than just being in a college town or where I'm from.  I think just having a lot of stuff to do has been really cool."

How satisfying has it been to have some early season success?
"It's been pretty satisfying. I think that in club swimming I would have a little bit of inconsistency when I was racing, so it was really nice to have that first meet at LSU go so well.  I think that that really just created a lot of momentum in my confidence which really helps me in racing.  I just think that it kind of settles my worries that I still have a lot of room for improvement.  It's been really nice and a big motivating factor for me."

If you weren't swimming, what sport would you be doing?
"I would say basketball.  I used to play when I was little, but I just wasn't very good at it and I really wanted to be good at it."

What was your Halloween costume?
"This year I went as a skeleton, I think that's just a classic.  I was really debating being Gru from Despicable Me, but I wasn't sure how to pull that off.  My friend and I really wanted to do a duo character with that, but it was a little hard to pull off, so I just went with the skeleton."

What's your pre-race routine?
"My pre-race routine is probably dancing behind the blocks.  When I'm trying to be serious it just doesn't come naturally to me, so I like to get ready for a race just by dancing, trying to get excited, and just having positive thoughts.  And just reminding myself that it'll be a good race, and it'll hurt but as long as I'm trying my best, it will be okay."

What have you decided that you want to do after graduation?  Have you even thought about that?
"I've thought about it a lot, and like I said earlier I'm a really indecisive person.  I know I really want to go to law school as of right now, so I'm thinking about majoring in political economy or something in that realm. After undergrad I really want to go to law school, but from there I'm not sure."

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
"In 10 years, I definitely want to be a mom and hopefully have a house by then.  I really want to own a dog and a cat. I just want to be an ambitious, hard-working person at all points of my life."

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Swimming and Diving Spotlight with Lilly Byrne

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Lilly Byrne

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