Former USC swimmer, Florida Gulf Coast assistant coach, and SwimSwam senior reporter Amanda Smith has been inducted into the Indian Hills High School Hall of Fame in Cincinnati.
Smith was a two-time team captain, 4-time team MVP, and led her team to Ohio state championship meet runner-up finishes in every season from 2004-2007. She also never lost a race at the CHL league championship meet in her career. Even a decade after, Smith still holds school records in the 200 free, 100 fly, and 500 free.
Individually, she was a 12-time All-American and won event state titles in the 200 free relay (2005), 500 free (2006), and 100 fly (2007).
In college, she swam at both Indiana and USC. As a Trojan, she was again a captain, and in 2012 led the team to a 3rd-place finish at the NCAA Championship meet. She was also a 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee and was a 3-time NCAA School Record holder. She won 9 NCAA All-America honors in her career.
After a year as a volunteer assistant at Ohio State, Smith would become an assistant at Florida Gulf Coast University – a program that rose as fast as any in the modern era of NCAA swimming. Head coach Neal Studd had already built a perennial conference-title-winning team when Smith arrived, and while working together, the Eagles scored their first-ever A-final finish in a relay at the 2015 NCAA Championship meet.
Smith has now stepped back from coaching swimming and lives in St. Petersburg, Florida. She is working on completing her master’s degree in education through USC.
Congratulations
Great honor and congratulations! I found the high school state championships to be the best competitions to participate in and I know your teammates are very happy for you. I was good friends and swam with your Dad at IU and am sure he is very proud. It’s great to see his daughter get her well earned respect and honors! Best wishes on your master’s degree and to your family.
Congrats Amanda!! Nice to be honored for your great swimming career! Amanda’s family was mostly known for great football- playing brothers( Duke, Miami of Ohio )and she was the only one that took up the sport of swimming seriously. Her father Frank was obviously her inspiration as his swimming career took him to national prominence at Indiana with Doc Counsilman and Univ of Arizona with
Charlie Hickox.