SMU Dominates C-USA Swimming And Diving Awards

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HOUSTON (SMU) – The SMU women’s and men’s swimming and diving teams collected several honors after winning the Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday night.

Women’s head coach Steve Collins was named the Conference USA Swimming Coach of the Year for the third time after leading the Mustangs to a first-place finish and 11 new meet records.

Senior captain Therese Svendsen was named the Conference USA Swimmer of the Meet for the third consecutive year after earning seven gold medals and breaking six meet records. Svendsen broke her own record in the 100-yard backstroke, automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships with an NCAA A standard time of 52.31. She also topped her own mark in the 200-yard backstroke, touching the wall in 1:53.51 (NCAAB). Svendsen claimed top honors in the 200-yard individual medley, setting a new meet record of 1:58.08 (NCAA B). She swam the opening legs of the winning 200- and 400-yard medley relay squads, helping set new meet records with NCAA B standards of 1:36.84 and 3:32.77, respectively. Svendsen was also a member of the top 400-yard freestyle relay (3:16.19, meet record, NCAA B) and the 800-yard freestyle relay (7:11.27, NCAA B).

On the men’s side, head coach Eddie Sinnott was named the men’s Swimming Coach of the Year while diving coach Jim Stillson was named the men’s Diving Coach of the Year.

Freshman diver Devin Burnett was tabbed the men’s Diver of the Meet after sweeping the diving events. Burnett won the one-meter event (361.20 points), the three-meter dive (340.75) and the platform dive (363.70).