Facing the water below, sophomore Luke Sitz stands atop the 1-meter diving board. He dives off the board, and ends up winning the NCAA National Championship and bringing home a silver medal. He made program history on the 1-meter where he won SMU’s first national title in the event.
He makes diving look as easy as breathing.
Sitz first began to garner attention for his diving in December of 2023 as a senior in high school, when he competed in his first winter nationals and placed seventh in the senior event. From there, he was invited to his first international meets in April of 2024, The Canada Cup, where he earned fifth place on the 3-meter springboard, and the American Cup, where he finished in fourth on the 3-meter springboard.
“There are definitely some categories I like more, my front 4 ½ on the 3-meter is hands down my best dive, somehow I always pull through in a meet,” Sitz said. “If I’m down points that’s the dive I’m always like, okay I’ve got this dive let’s do it.”
Sitz wasn’t always drawn to diving; instead, he played baseball for seven years. Sitz’ brother dove in high school, and when Sitz went to one of his brothers’ meets when he was younger. He began at 11 years old and by his junior year of high school in Prosper, Texas, Sitz saw a possible future career.
“[Coach] Darian [Schmidt] picked me up the second I could commit to college,” Sitz said. “I guess he saw my potential since I used to practice here [at the SMU aquatic center] for club.”
Sitz’s career has skyrocketed since he came to college. As a freshman, he competed in nine competitions for SMU. He earned a podium place on the 1-meter during the NCAA Championships, recorded a silver medal on 3-meter and bronze on 1-meter during the ACC Championships. He’s been named ACC Diver of the Week for a conference-record six times, boasts six first-place finishes during the regular season and has been in the top eight of every event he has competed in since beginning his collegiate career. His career goals go far beyond even these incredible accomplishments, and he isn’t the only one who sees his potential beyond college.
“He’s very young, but he’s already shown up as a great athlete, and he really knows what he wants to do and works hard for it every single day,” Graduate Assistant Coach Montserrat Lavenant said. “He has the goal to be an Olympic diver and I think he has everything to completely accomplish that.”
Furthering this belief in his future career, Sitz has been named one of the 17 members of the USA National diving team and is the only diver on the team representing the state of Texas. This accomplishment opens up more opportunities for his career long term and helps him get closer to achieving his all-time diving goal.
“My ultimate dream for my career is to make an Olympic team and hopefully get on the podium, so that is my core motivator,” Stiz said. “I am demanding perfection everyday at practice and I’m just trying to put it all on the table and see what happens.”
But showing up daily and giving his all isn’t the only thing that Luke does to perfect his craft. He strongly believes in visualization as an important tool for success.
“I visualize all my dives at night and I kind of just know to trust my training and not overthink a lot of things,” Sitz said.
As unstoppable as Sitz has been, he did suffer a minor setback earlier this year with a concussion in the middle of January. He then only had a week and a half back in the water before he competed at the ACC championship.
He had a few doubts, which disrupted the confidence he started the season with. His training after the incident wasn’t up to par with his usual regimen after his three weeks of time off to recover.
“I was trying to get a new mindset, I don’t wanna regret not going all the way, so I just kind of faked it till I made it,” Sitz said.
Sitz’s mindset and dedication is not only noticed by his coaches.
“He’s so meticulous, I haven’t seen many divers dip the board in the water, and to see Luke do it, every dive is extremely impressive,” junior swimmer Jack Berube said. “He has had such growth. We always knew that he had incredible potential, just because he’s so incredibly coachable.”
Sitz has been named the ACC 2026 Men’s Diver of the Year and his coach, Darian Schmidt was named ACC’s Men’s Diving Coach of the Year. This is the first time any mustang has come away with either honor.
“Luke’s a guy you can talk to about anything at any point in the day. He’s just an amazing character to have around the team constantly. He’s always down for anything the team is down for, and we love him for that.” Berube said.
With all of the accolades and musings about his future, Sitz is no stranger to feeling a world of pressure from all sides to perform well and keep up his momentum. He’s been accompanied by the weight of his performance since high school, when he competed at state and felt as though he had to win or else he’d let everybody down.
“The biggest challenge to perform at a high-level…there are gonna be people in the diving world who are like oh you are on the national team you must be good and then watch me and if you don’t do good they’re gonna be disappointed.” Sitz said.
But soon enough Sitz was able to find a way to manage and even turn the pressure to his advantage.
“I do sometimes like the pressure, I think if you use it in the right way it can elevate you to perform better,” Stiz said. “As long as you use the pressure to push and not drag you down, I think it could be helpful.”
Overall, Sitz has a bright future ahead of him in diving and will continue to push himself to be at his best and we will all be watching from the Hilltop to cheer him on and watch what happens next.
“He’s amazing, a very coachable kid, and he has all the talent and all the hard work and the competitive mindset that talented athletes need to be great and excel in his sport,” Lavenant said. “He has something different; he has the sauce, it’s just something that not a lot of people have and this is just the beginning of his career; he has a great future ahead of him.”
