Senior Mustang Flavia Rigamonti was honored last week with the title of C-USA Swimmer of the Year.

“Of course it’s an honor and a great way to finish my college career,” she said. “I didn’t quite finish the season the way I wanted, but then again, these kind of announcements are what makes tons of training worth while.”

Rigamonti didn’t have a solid guess as to why this season was the most successful one for her personally.

“Well, this is our first year in Conference-USA, and that could be a reason,” she said. “But I think the main reason is because I have been very consistent all season long. I entered our NCAA championship seated first in both 500 and mile, but I still confirmed my level this year.”

This isn’t the only honor the Switzerland native has earned in her four years at SMU. She broke two meet and pool records on the way to capturing the 500 and 1650-yard freestyle crowns at the 2006 C-USA Championships. Rigamonti topped the C-USA meet record in 1650-yard freestyle event with a time of 15:59.96 and earned a gold in the 500 free with a time of 4:40.55. She beat the previous record from 2002 by over five seconds in that category.

Rigamonti has had over 10 first-place finishes and over 15 top-three finishes this season, as well as being a four-year All-American and a five-time NCAA champion. She attributes all of her success at SMU to her teammates and coaches.

“I am still swimming because I have an incredible team behind me here at SMU, and an even more amazing coaching staff,” she said. “They keep me happy, and make everything more fun.”

She also keeps her life balanced and finds swimming relaxes her.

“Swimming is very rewarding when done well, and you must love it, otherwise it just eats you up,” Rigamonti said. “It’s hard to focus on too many thins at once, but setting little goals is the key.”

Coming to SMU from Switzerland was a difficult move, but her team helped her adjust.

“It gets tough sometimes to motivate myself, but I’m still here, and it’s because of my team,” she said.