The SMU women’s swimming and diving team is hungry to win their sixth consecutive Conference USA title. The Mustangs come into the season ranked No. 11 in the nation and have already impressed with meet victories over Houston and Rice.

Steve Collins brings a wealth of knowledge to the program and is in his 25th year as head coach of SMU women’s swimming team. Collins has led the Ponies to 14 consecutive conference titles (9 WAC, 5 C-USA) and has been named NCAA Coach of the Year multiple times.

Collins believes this year’s team will continue the tradition of excellence at SMU.

“The team goals are to try to finish in the top 20 at the NCAA’s and win the conference championship,” he said. “At this point the way this team is working together and competing in the early season meets, they are on the right track to accomplish those goals.”

The Mustangs have a good blend of upperclassmen who have experienced championship runs and young talented underclassmen.

On Oct. 23 SMU defeated Houston 172-122 in the first dual match of the season. The Mustangs won 12 of the meet’s 16 events and the 50, 100 and 200-yard freestyle events.

The Ponies then downed Rice in a dual meet with the SMU Classic this past Saturday, 127-73. With the win, SMU moved to 2-0 in dual meets this season.

“[Against Rice] we really had the opportunity to feature some of the swimmers that weren’t competing in the classic,” Collins said. “It really showed the depth we have and the quality of the team ,and I was really impressed with the times and the fact that the swimmers really improved from the week before when they swam against Houston.”

The SMU Classic provided an extremely tough test for the Mustangs. The meet featured six nationally ranked teams including USC from the Pac 10, Louisville from the Big East, Virginia from the ACC, Purdue from the Big 10, and Rice and SMU from C-USA.

“The SMU Classic is an annual event for us,” Collins said.

USC dominated the classic throughout out the weekend and finished in first place with a total of 420 points. The Trojans also had the four highest point-earning swimmers of the meet.

SMU and Purdue duked it out for second place and produced some electrifying events. Both teams were tied at the diving break mid-meet. The two teams remained within four points of each other for the rest of the meet. The Mustangs were finally able to pull away from the Boilermakers meet’s final event. SMU finished second in the 200- meter freestyle relay which propelled the Mustangs into a thrilling second place finish.

Collins was satisfied with the second place result and the effort his girls gave.

“You always want to shoot to win your home competitions, but in this case with Purdue finishing 16th in the NCAA [championships] and obviously Southern California finishing in the top ten last year it was tough,” he said. “We were satisfied for this weekend, but we certainly want to try to improve and try to be even better at the end of the season,” Collins said.

Senior diver Audra Egenolf  set a new school and meet record with her 3-meter dive combined score of 346.85. She gained 16 points in the standings for the Mustangs, and the 3 meter dive was the only event that USC did not take first place in. The previous meet record was set in 1998 by Sydney Olympic gold medalist Laura Wilkinson.

“My Friday night performance was not what I wished it would have been, so I came back with a new attitude on Saturday,” Egenolf said. “I knew we only had two home meets this year and I really wanted to get the pool record, so I just came in pretty driven and just got it done.”

Egenolf is coming off a superb junior year,  which ended with a seventh place finish in the 3-meter dive and 11th place finish in the platform dive at the NCAA Championships.

The senior from Indianapolis, Ind. has qualified for the NCAA Championships every year since she’s been at SMU and achieved All American status as a freshman.

“[Egenolf] has been a leader for us in her events at the NCAA championships and that’s what has been most impressive for me,” Collins said.

The star diver has high expectations this season and is reaching for the stars as far as her senior year goals go.

“Ultimately it’s my last year and I’d like to win the NCAA’s,” Egenolf said. “I’d like to final in all three boards and be an All American on the 1 meter, 3 meter and platform.”

Junior Therese Svendsen and sophomore Denisa Smolenova have been very impressive for the Mustangs so far this season.

Against Houston, Smolenova won two individual events, the 200-yard butterfly (2:01.38) and the 100-yard butterfly (55.80). She also swam the third leg of the winning 400-yard medley relay squad. In the SMU Classic, the super sophomore earned runner-up honors in the 100-yard butterfly event with a time of 55.17.

Last year at the Conference USA championships, Smolenova won the 100-yard butterfly (54.25) and the 200- yard butterfly (2:00.96).

In the 100-yard backstroke, at the SMU Classic, Svendsen finished with a time of 55.62 to take second for SMU. She also swam the backstroke leg in the 400-yard medley relay and swam the second leg of the freestyle relay for the Ponies.

As a freshman, Svendsen was named Conference USA Freshman of the Year and also received All American honors. Last season, she was named Conference USA Swimmer of the Year and won the 100-yard backstroke (52.65) and the 200-yard backstroke (1:54.98) at the Conference USA championships.

SMU had one of the best recruiting classes in the nation this year, and the freshmen are certainly living up to their hype.

Nina Rangelova, Deanna Matthews and Alice McCall have already made a significant impact for the Mustangs.

Against Houston, McCall won the 1000-yard freestyle (10:14.97) the 500-yard freestyle (5:04.72). The long distance specialist and Great Britain native swam club for Wigan B.E.S.T. during her years in high school.

Matthews was also astounding against Houston and led all Mustangs with three event titles. She won the 100- yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke, and the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:22.69. Matthews took second in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:27.07 at the SMU Classic.

Rangelova wowed the crowd on the first day of the SMU Classic by placing second in the 200-yard freestyle, with an NCAA B qualifying time of 1:47.87. She also helped the 400-yard medley relay team earn a second-place finish as she swam the final leg for the Mustangs. Rangelova was not done yet; she swam the first leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay as well and helped SMU clock in with a second-place time of 7:28.27.

“We have a large group [of freshmen] and all different strokes and levels of experience, but they’ve really bonded together as a group,” Collins said.

SMU will travel to North Texas for its third dual meet of the season on Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. The Mustangs defeated the Mean Green 143-96 in last season’s faceoff.

“North Texas is one of the teams in Texas that’s been improving,” Collins said. “We certainly want to use this meet to continue to develop our team. We want to try to match up well with North Texas and swim a very tough competition, and at the same time we have to keep looking forward.”