Courtesy: SMU Athletics
The Mustangs are set for a pair of dual meets this week, hitting the road against Texas A&M Thursday at 4 p.m. and hosting American Athletic Conference foe Tulane Saturday at 2 p.m. for Senior Day. Events are closed to the public.
Both events will be streamed on the ESPN family of networks, with Thursday on SEC Network+ and Saturday on ESPN+. Results will be available on Meet Mobile and Dive Meets.
The Mustangs will honor six seniors prior to Saturday’s event – Katie Crown, Madison Kinsey, Taylor Ohlhauser, Sam Smith, Lauren Thompson and Kiley Vandevier – the ceremony will start at 2 p.m. and be available on the live stream.
Last Time Out
Jenna Watson collected five wins to lead the Mustangs over a pair of weekend duals with Houston and Rice. She won the 200 breast and 200 IM in both meets, and also won the 200 free against Houston.
Alex Stevens returned to action for SMU, winning the 50 free (Houston) and 100 free (Rice). Maddy Lewis (100 breast), Olivia Grossklaus (200 fly) and Valentina Becerra (100 fly) also picked up wins in the pool.
In diving action against Houston, Nicole Stambo led a 1 meter sweep for the Mustangs.
Against The Competition
The Mustangs fell to Texas A&M at home during the 2019-20 season. Gabi Grobler (200 back), Olivia Grossklaus (500 free, 200 fly), Alex Stevens (50 free) and Frederica Kizek (1000 free) all picked up top-three finishes in their respective events.
SMU defeated Tulane 153-147 in New Orleans last season off a diving sweep from current Mustangs Johanna Holloway and Nicole Stambo and a win in the 200 fly from Grossklaus.
Scouting The Aggies
Texas A&M is 3-1 in dual action this season, with wins over Rice, TCU and Houston. The lone loss of the season came at the hands of then-No. 8 Texas in Austin. The Aggies also won their mid-season invitational in November.
Scouting The Green Wave
Tulane is 1-3 in dual action with its only win of the season coming against Delta State in its season opener. The Green Wave has losses to Rice, LSU and Houston.
Making The Cut
All four divers have qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships and Olivia Grossklaus (200 fly) has achieved the Mustangs’ first NCAA B cut of the season. Johanna Holloway (1m, 3m), Taylor Ohlhauser (1m, 3m), Nicole Stambo (1m, 3m) and Katie Crown (1m) will represent SMU at the Zone Championships in March.
Conference Standout
Nicole Stambo earned the first AAC Diver of the Week honors of the season on Dec. 15. Stambo won five of six diving events for the Mustangs leading up to the award, sweeping competition against TCU and Drury. She also has NCAA Zone qualifying scores on both 1 and 3 meter.
Her 311.78 in 3 meter prelims against Drury on Nov. 20 was a career best, an event she went on to win, while the 1 meter win at North Texas was also a personal best score at 300.97.
Since the award, Stambo won 1-meter action against conference-rival Houston on Jan. 8.
Top 10 Performers
Three active Mustangs currently account for six spots on SMU’s all-time top-10 performer lists.
| Gabi Grobler 100 back 10 | 54.21 200 back 10 | 1:57.12 200 IM 6 | 1:59.41 |
Olivia Grossklaus 200 fly 2 | 1:56.44 |
Frederica Kizek 1000 free 7 | 9:56.66 1650 free 8 | 16:28.89 |
Around The League
The Mustangs currently hold the top time in three swimming events around the league and have 13 times in the top three.
Indra Vandenbussche | 50 free
Annabelle Corcoran | 1650 free
Olivia Grossklaus | 200 fly
Four of the five Mustang relays lead the conference, with the 400 medley relay ranking second.
In The Rankings
Olivia Grossklaus (200 fly, 32nd) and Annabelle Corcoran (1650 free, 50th) rank in the top 50 nationally in their respective events, while four of the five Mustang relays rank in the top 25.
200 free relay | 23rd
400 free relay | 25th
800 free relay | 14th
200 medley relay | 36th
400 medley relay | 22nd
Academic Excellence
The Mustangs continue to excel in the classroom, earning College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America honors. Teams were selected on the basis of their fall grade-point-average, and must have achieved a 3.0 GPA. SMU posted a 3.59 GPA in the fall.
All-American Returners
The current roster returns CSCAA All-American Johanna Holloway, who earned honors on platform in 2020, as well as seven CSCAA Scholar All-Americans.
Holloway led the Mustangs as a first-team Scholar All-America selection, while Katie Crown, Gabi Grobler, Olivia Grossklaus, Frederica Kizek, Taylor Ohlhauser and Nicole Stambo earned Honorable Mention accolades.
Looking Ahead
The Mustangs travel to Austin to take on No. 1 Texas at 3 p.m. on Feb. 5.
Go, Olivia!