After nearly seven consecutive months of training and competing, Texas women’s swim and dive officially concluded its 2024-25 season with a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships on Saturday, March 22.
Gathered in Federal Way, Washington for four days, 281 swimmers and 41 divers competed in the championship meet, which ultimately culminated in Virginia’s fifth consecutive NCAA title.
Virginia swam its way to first place with authority, establishing a staggering 127-point lead over the second-finishing Stanford team by the end of the meet. Texas and Stanford engaged in a tighter battle for second place, but Stanford ultimately came out on top.
Despite the Longhorns’ inability to secure the runner-up position, they returned to Austin with a solid third-place finish and several impressive individual victories, records and personal bests.
Among them was graduate Emma Sticklen’s third consecutive national title in the 200 fly, her final collegiate race. Sticklen finished the event in 1:49.11, breaking Olympian and Virginia graduate Alex Walsh’s previous record time by just .05 seconds.
Sticklen defeated Walsh and Stanford sophomore Caroline Bricker to keep Texas within striking distance for second place. She expressed appreciation for the high standard set by Walsh, acknowledging the competitiveness of the participants this year.
“I knew it was going to be a badass field,” Sticklen said following her victory. “That was a really, really tough barrier to break, and I’ve been chasing it all year, and to do it at my last college meet ever, it was just really special.”
Another standout performer from this meet was freshman Jillian Cox, who claimed individual victories in both the 1650 free and the 500 free.
After Florida sophomore Bella Sims, former 500 free champion, finished seven seconds slower than her seed time in the prelims and unexpectedly missed the finals, Cox had a clear path to victory in the event.
Cox created a significant gap between herself and the second-place finisher, Stanford senior Aurora Roghair, in both the 500 and 1650, winning by 2.32 and 5.67 seconds, respectively.
“I’m glad to see that the work I’ve done this year has paid off,” Cox said. “I can attribute that all to my coaches at UT.”
Although several notable team members will graduate in under two months, the team’s young talent extends beyond just Cox.
On the diving side, freshman Alejandra Estudillo Torres claimed first place in the 3-meter event and sixth in the 1-meter. Texas scored 92 points in the meet’s diving section, more than any other team in the field.
Head coach Carol Capitani spent all year training her team with this meet in mind, cultivating a higher-performing program than all but two nationally.
However, she is no stranger to this level of success. Texas has claimed conference titles for 13 consecutive years and this is their fifth consecutive year finishing in the top three at the NCAA tournament.
With the 2024-25 season in the rearview mirror, Texas is set to regroup, send off seasoned veterans and embrace a promising 2025-26 season.
