The SMU Classic

Friday, Oct. 6 (6 p.m.) - Saturday, Oct. 7 (11 a.m.)

Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium - Dallas, TX

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DALLAS (SMU) – The face of SMU women's swimming and diving is quite different this year at the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center.

After 37 seasons with the Mustangs, former head women's swimming coach Steve Collins  retired. During his time at the Hilltop, he was named the NCAA Coach of the Year twice and earned conference coach of the year on 11 occasions. He led the Mustangs to 17 conference championships and 35 trips to the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships.

 

New at the helm is first-year SMU head coach Ozzie Quevedo, coming to the Hilltop after previously serving as associate head coach at the University of Alabama.

 

"Certainly, Steve did a phenomenal job, every season that he was here. We definitely want to continue his legacy," Quevedo said.

 

Quevedo joined the Crimson Tide swimming and diving staff as associate head coach in June 2019 and served as interim head coach from December 2020 through May 2021, before being promoted to senior associate head coach in July 2022.

He was an Olympian in 2000 for his native Venezuela, swimming the 100 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay in Sydney. Quevedo has also tabbed 2016 Olympian Melanie Margalis-Fink as assistant coach.

 

"I'm excited to train with Ozzie," senior swimmer Indra Vandenbussche said. "It's a completely different way of training. I really like it. It's like aerobic some days, but then really, really intense other days, which kind of gets you in that racing mentality a couple of times a week."

 

Featuring a roster of 35, including a senior class of 10, the Mustangs have plenty of swimmers with leadership and experience under their belts to mentor the six freshmen and one transfer new to the pool this year.

 

"To have such a large senior class, it's been a good scenario for us because we named them all to our leadership council," Quevedo said. "And so all of them are acting as team captains, and all of them are sharing those stories amongst everybody."

 

At the platforms end of the pool, Darian Schmidt is in his seventh season. Schmidt has a combined seven AAC Diving Coach of the Year awards.

 

One of Schmidt's divers, Nicole Stambo, is coming off  four consecutive NCAA Zone Qualifying scores in the 1-meter and 3-meter, along with qualifying for the platform in 2020, 2022 and 2023. Most recently in 2023, Stambo also qualified for platforms in the NCAA Championship.

 

Stambo said she is looking forward to the opportunity to defend her title.

 

"I have hopes to win the conference championship on hopefully all boards and to definitely defend my title for the fourth year on one meter and then qualify to NCAAs on all three," Stambo said.

 

The rest of the women's diving roster consists of Stambo, World University Games team member Jaclynn Fowler, and freshman Ava Andersen. 

 

"Ava is a great addition, I think she's a great teammate and a great student," Schmidt said. "And I think she is very coachable and is going to turn into a really good diver for us."

 

As for team goals, the Mustangs are seeking to finish first in the American Athletic Conference across en route to NCAAs, after starting the season against four teams that finished last year ranked among the top 25 in the nation at the SMU Classic.

 

"I think that's the top goal of this team, to win the conference and to get as many people as possible to NCAAs," Vandenbussche said.

 

While helping the Mustangs accomplish their goals, Quevedo is looking to establish his new program's identity amongst the swimming community.

 

"We are finding ways to see if we can make the program our own," Quevedo said. "I think the girls are really looking forward to seeing where we are right now as a team and where we are individually with each one of them after all the training that we've done."

 

SMU opens the season on the weekend of Oct. 6 by hosting the annual SMU Classic. The meet is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday. Louisville, Auburn, Missouri, USC and Miami will be participating along with the Mustangs.