Early success shaped Austin native and Texas graduate student Coby Carrozza’s journey with the Longhorns. 

In just his first year at Texas, Carrozza placed first in the 500-meter freestyle at the 2021 Big 12 Championships. He glossed over his individual success, instead placing emphasis on the team’s work in leading Texas’ men’s swimming to their 25th consecutive title that same year. 

“Seeing what it takes to do that and being able to be on a team to win a national championship is like the ultimate goal in college swimming,” Carrozza said. “It’s a team, you know, it’s not just one person performing, it’s a whole collective.”

Carrozza’s success in the Big 12 Championships continued as he placed in the 500-meter freestyle in his sophomore and junior years. He also garnered three gold medals in two 800-meter freestyle team relays and one 500-meter freestyle team relay at the championships up until his senior year, in which he traveled to South America to represent the United States in the Pan American Games.

“Representing the U.S. is kind of the ultimate goal of a swimmer, and being able to travel the world for the U.S. is what makes it so special,” Carrozza said. “Being able to see the different people and cultures is just so awesome. And being able to have swimming be kind of a vehicle that gets you there is truly an honor.”

But out of all his accomplishments, Carrozza emphasized how swimming for Texas is his biggest one. 

“Swimming for the University of Texas is kind of my greatest pride,” he said. ”And I’m just so grateful every day to be able to swim for Texas.”

While Carrozza is keeping the option open to continue swimming after graduation, he has some words of advice for younger swimmers on the team. 

“I always tell everyone, just keep it fun, you know, at the end of the day, it’s a sport and it’s swimming,” Carrozza said. “You really have to remind yourself that at a high level of sports that your performance doesn’t define you. When you let how you swim affect your life, in the sense that if you swim good, you’re happy, you swim bad, you’re sad all the time, they really start to eat you up. So I tell everyone, just keep it fun and remind yourself that it’s just swimming.”

Texas men’s swimming is currently hosting an invitational, Nov. 20 – Nov. 22,  before picking back up with regular season meets on Dec. 18, where Carrozza will finish out his final year with the Longhorns.