SMU Athletics

Anna Heller is in her third season (2019-20) as assistant coach for of the SMU women's swimming program.

During the 2018-19 season, Heller helped mentor Erin Trahan to American Athletic Conference Most Outstanding Performer honors, and Trahan and Podmanikova to NCAA Championship performances. 

In 2018, Matea Samardzic and Andrea Podmanikova qualified for the NCAA Division I National Championships, and the Mustangs produced 11 NCAA B cuts.

Heller came to SMU after a successful season as part of the Texas A&M women's staff. She helped the Aggies to their highest ever finish of third at the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships and second consecutive SEC Championship.

Heller also has extensive experience at the club level, having served stints with the Aggie Swim Club and Hillsboro Heat (Hillsboro, Oregon). Serving as head age group coach, Heller was tasked with developing practice plans, leading swimming and dryland workouts and planning activities and community service events outside of competition. 

Heller holds certifications from USA Swimming and the American Swim Coaches Association (Level 2).

Before shifting to coaching swimming exclusively, Heller served as a strength and conditioning intern at the University of Portland where she led the strength and conditioning and nutrition efforts of the women's basketball and tennis programs.

A two-year letterwinner for the Aggies, Heller was part of a Big 12 Championship team in 2012 and held times in the program top 10 of the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes. Prior to her time in College Station, Heller competed at Oregon State where she was part of a 400-yard medley relay school record, holds the second fastest time in program history in backstroke events and is in the school's top 10 in both individual medleys. She was also an NCAA qualifier in 2010.

In 2012, Heller was a qualifier for the US Olympic Swimming Trials and, in 2015, she qualified for USA Swimming Nationals.

Heller is an avid volunteer for the David Heller Foundation, an organization which seeks to educate and create awareness about sudden cardiac arrest in teen athletes. The funds raised for the organization have exceeded a quarter of a million dollars. Heller manages social media content for the group and has volunteered at cardiac screenings over the years, helping over 1,200 athletes ages 13-19 get screened. 

Originally from of Scappoose, Oregon, Heller graduated from Texas A&M in 2013 with a degree in agricultural communications and journalism and a sports management minor.