Skyler Sharp
Senior Emma Sticklen smiles as she gets recognized at the Senior Day meet against TCU on Feb 2, 2024.
The graduate student competed in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly finals in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials this summer but was not a favorite to earn a spot. Sticklen competed in the 2021 trials, but this year was completely different, not just because she made the finals for the first time, but because she was set to compete under the lights of Lucas Oil Stadium with 20,689 people in attendance. Alongside the millions of people tuned into NBC Primetime from their couches, it would be the largest number of people who had ever watched her compete.
“I really felt like an elite athlete at that point,” Sticklen said. “When I was walking out into the stadium with all those people, I was like, ‘I am an NFL player, I am in the NBA.’”
Knowing that she would be under the pressure of roaring fans and the possibility of an Olympic spot, Sticklen let the adrenaline take over as soon as the start sound hit her ears. Yet she placed eighth and fourth in the 100 and 200-meter butterfly events, respectively — results that were not enough to make the Paris Olympic team.
After spending the entire season visualizing what it would mean to make the team and wear the American flag on her swim cap in Paris, it took some time to heal from the loss. But while some athletes take off the training and competing load following an Olympic season, Sticklen returned to Austin after a one-month-long and 14-day break to train for her last collegiate season.
Rather than experiencing senioritis, Sticklen is using what she calls “senior juice” to motivate her. She said senior juice is that extra push that stems from doing something for the last time, which in her case is competing for the Longhorns.
“At practices, I have found different ways to go faster and, really give it my all, there is something special about it when it’s your last time,” Sticklen said.
This season’s stakes are high. Sticklen has the opportunity to achieve a three-peat national championship in the 200-yard butterfly. Even though Sticklen has the talent and experience to win a third national title, she never wants to get complacent. Dominating the event for the last two years does not mean she has guaranteed herself the next title.
“I have not won yet, I am not the 2025 national champion,” Sticklen said.
Although the Texas women’s swimming and diving team has an experienced roster, the
athletes are set to enter the uncharted territory that is the Southeastern Conference. There will be the pressure to be just as dominant as they were in the Big 12, but Sticklen knows her team embraces the target on their back.
“We’ve heard people say that the SEC is just different,” Sticklen said. “And my message to
everyone is that we’re different.”