Swimming
Southern Methodist University (2015-2019)
Team Captain
Top 10 all time 1650 at smu
SAAC President
BS in sport management + BA in Psychology
About Me:
Originally I’m from Southern California. I grew up with the most amazing mom, dad and two little sisters …and a lot of dogs! I began my athletic career playing softball at age 6 and swimming at age 9. I swam on the National Team of the Mission Viejo Nadadores and thrived at Capistrano Valley High School.
I fully committed my time to swimming during my freshman year of high school, which was far later than most people who had high aspirations for the sport. I had phenomenal coaches and mentors leading me down the right path towards pursuing collegiate-level swimming. However, I was not heavily recruited and the entire recruiting process weighed heavily on me.
I took a leap of faith and moved to Dallas, TX to attend Southern Methodist University (SMU) with a walk-on spot on the Division I Women’s Swim Team. I did not know a single person and I walked in with the full expectation to be at the end of the lane every single day for the next four years.
I got a lot more out of SMU than I anticipated. Athletically, I became a distance swimmer on our conference scoring team, where I earned points for our team all four years. We won the American Athletic Conference my freshmen year, and I continued to compete well for my club team during the summers.
I earned a spot on the highly coveted SMU Classic team, won a collegiate race in a dual meet, and was selected as a captain my senior year. Perhaps the most shocking of all SMU accomplishments for me was going from a walk-on to a scholarship athlete after my freshman year, and a full ride athlete during my junior year.
Beyond the pool, I found a lot of value in the resources and opportunities that were open to me at SMU. I joined SMU’s SAAC and served as President for two years, which was the most rewarding and unexpected part of my college journey. In addition, I got to travel to Belize on a service trip, travel the world with my best friends, network with incredible people, win academic and athletic awards, meet people who love Jesus, learn a whole lot and become a die-hard SMU Mustang fan (it might be unhealthy).
I graduated with a B.A. in Psychology, B.S. in Sport Management, and a minor in Sport Performance Leadership. I am now a graduate assistant in the SMU Athletic Department and earning my MS in Sport Management, looking towards a future potentially working for The Olympic Movement. I have a heart for adaptive athletes and a hope to serve that population in the military realm and perhaps the Paralympics.
In my eyes, this is only a brief look into my time at SMU, and I would love to share more of my story with whomever could benefit from it. I have a passion for empowering (or mpowhering) young women and young athletes to reach beyond what they might think they are capable of and to impart the knowledge I have gained from my crazy journey.
“Being a walk-on athlete at a university is daunting, but I am here to tell you it is also remarkably rewarding. It was worth every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears. I wish nothing more than to help other young athletes... by sharing my story and walking next to them through theirs.”
Persistence Is Key
I had to balance pursuing high academic hopes with not as high swimming abilities. I applied to 15 schools. Everyone else on my club team had committed to a top tier Division I program by the fall of our senior year. I was left as the only one uncommitted and still unsure if I could even swim at the collegiate level. I had been reaching out to coaches every day and constantly hearing the same response: “you’re just not quite at the level we recruit.” However, I was often told if I could get into the school, then I could walk-on.
There was a group of schools that I applied to that nationally ranked at the top athletically and academically. As a result, I couldn’t bank on getting into those. I had a group of safety schools that still remained out of my swimming range. My final group was comprised of smaller, less academically rigorous schools that recruited me to be their “big fish in a small pond.”
I had no idea which option I wanted most, and I had no idea which doors would open first. I spent many nights in tears, paralyzed by the impending decision I had no earthly clue how to make. I was admitted to less than half the schools I applied to, and of those, only three remained that would challenge me athletically and academically.
I have always chosen and will always choose the more challenging path over the easy one. Coach Bill Rose gave the SMU Head Coach, Steve Collins, a call to lobby on my behalf, telling him that beyond performance, I could be an asset to his team as a leader and teammate more than anything else. So, Coach Collins took the chance on me and offered me a walk-on spot to his highly coveted, rich in tradition, incredibly impressive team of international Olympians and NCAA athletes.
On April 29th, two days before the deadline, I committed to Southern Methodist University and I did not look back. It was the best decision for me and proved to be the greatest experience of my life. I will never be able to thank my coach enough for taking that chance and I will never be able to thank myself enough for taking that chance. Being a walk-on athlete at a university is daunting, but I am here to tell you it is also remarkably rewarding. It was worth every ounce of blood, sweat and tears, though I wish nothing more than to help other young athletes avoid that blood, sweat and tears by sharing my story and walking next to them through theirs.