Jonathan Gomez and Matea Samardzic, currently sophomores at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, New Jersey, are both transferring to Southern Methodist University. “Why SMU? It is the right fit for us both academically and athletically,” says Gomez.
Gomez and Samardzic have represented their respective countries in international competitions. Gomez, of Colombia, was a finalist in the 200 fly at the Youth Olympic Games this past summer with a time of 2:01.94 LCM. Samardzic has competed for Croatia in the European Championships, World Junior Championships and European Youth Olympic Games. They currently train under coach Mohamed Abdelaal at Scarlet Aquatics and are preparing for the 2015 World Championships this summer in Kazan.
Matea Samardzic, originally from Split, Croatia, was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Most Outstanding Female Swimmer of the Meet the last two years in a row. At the 2015 MAAC Championships she won the 500 free, setting the conference record, and both the 100 and 200 backs. In 2014 she won the 200 IM and the backstrokes. Her top times are:
| Event | SCY | LCM |
| 50 free | 25.48r | 28.88r |
| 100 free | 55.19 | 1:01.12r |
| 500/400 free | 4:50.46 | 4:25.28 |
| 100 back | 54.45 | 1:04.30 |
| 200 back | 1:56.52 | 2:15.47 |
| 200 IM | 2:03.46 | 2:24.26 |
| 400 IM | 4:31.46 | 4:57.30 |
Samardzic’s best times would have made her SMU’s top 500 free finisher at the 2015 AAC Championships, and the Mustangs’ second-fastest backstroker.
Jonathan Gomez was named 2014 MAAC Men’s Championship Most Outstanding Swimmer after winning 3 events and breaking the meet record in the 200 fly. In 2015 he lowered his own MAAC record in the 200 fly by 2 seconds, won the 400 IM, and was second in the 200 IM. His top times are:
| Event | SCY | LCM |
| 100 back | 49.58r | 1:05.71 |
| 200 back | 1:53.02 | 2:15.85 |
| 100 fly | 48.73 | 55.89 |
| 200 fly | 1:46.24 | 2:01.94 |
| 200 IM | 1:48.75 | 2:09.30 |
| 400 IM | 3:52.34 | 4:30.19 |
At this year’s AAC Championships Gomez would have been SMU’s 400 IMer, second-fastest 200 IMer, and third-fastest 200 butterflier.
We are very excited to have both of them here in Dallas. They’re both world class swimmers and will make an immediate impact on our program.
Since coach Mohammed left the whole program fall apart, also the decisions made by the athletic deparment were unbelievable. Jonathan and Matea are world class level swimmers they deserve to be in a better place.
That whole team deserved to be in a better place. This doesn’t come down to only two people.
Huge loss for Saint Peter’s
It is a huge loss for st. peter’s considering i swim there for high school, but the reason was the spu swim program was falling because of coaching changes, this had nothing to do with the university its self,in fact they both loved it. The problem was the future of the program being cut.