Fresh faces on the Texas women’s swim and dive team have set record-breaking performances in the first two meets of the 2024-25 season, showing early signs of a dominant young class.
Standout names included freshman Piper Enge and redshirt freshman Jillian Cox, who each broke pool records in Baton Rouge during their first collegiate meet.
Enge, originating from Mercer Island, Washington, joined the Longhorns as the top recruit from her state, excelling in the breaststroke and individual medley races.
“I knew Texas was one of the best and that they were going to stay one of the best,” Enge said. “I also knew we had one of the best athletic programs in the country and that athletes were treated real well here.”
Enge’s Texas debut was in Baton Rouge, starting her collegiate career off with a 59.67 100 breast, breaking the pool record and securing her first individual collegiate win. Just three weeks later, she claimed two more victories at home, winning the 200 breast with a time of 2:09.27 and 100 breast with a time of 59.26 against Indiana.
“There’s a really good sweet spot where you can’t tell if you’re nervous because you’re scared or you’re nervous because you’re excited, and it just gives you the right amount of adrenaline to get going,” Enge said. “I was super fortunate to have my first race be our … first race in the meet. I could see all the team on the side, and I just got so pumped up right away.”
After redshirting her 2023-24 season, freshman Jillian Cox broke UT’s 1000m free record in her debut collegiate race, surpassing her former teammate Erica Sullivan’s 2022 record with a time of 9:25.88. She went on to win the 500 free that afternoon, sweeping the free distance events.
Against Indiana, Cox broke her second UT record in the 500 free, swimming a 4:34.41 and setting an NCAA “A” cut time to automatically qualify herself for the 2025 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
“I’ve had my eyes on that record,” Cox said in a media availability for Longhorn Network. “To do that today was crazy and kind of a nice surprise, but it felt awesome.”
Prior to her collegiate career, Cox swam for Longhorn Aquatics, a competitive swim club in Austin, and practiced at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, the same facility where she now trains as a Texas student-athlete.
Enge and Cox hit the water again on Nov. 20 for the Texas Invitational against Stanford, BYU, Pitt, USC and Wisconsin for their third collegiate competition.
