The Texas women’s swim and dive program continues to be one of the premier programs in all of collegiate women’s swim. Consistently battling with reigning champion Virginia and title contender Stanford, Texas is battle-tested, and that showed in the Longhorns’ third-place finish in the NCAA championships.

With a blend of youth and experience, Texas broke several program and Southeastern Conference records throughout the season in preparation for the NCAA tournament.

Jillian Cox

Sophomore Jillian Cox returned for her second season with the program and picked up right where she left off in her debut season. The Longhorn secured six first-place finishes across multiple meets, including the Eddie Reese Texas Showdown and the Texas vs. Texas A&M meet.

Cox set a personal best during the Texas vs. Texas A&M meet in the 1000-meter freestyle event, with a time of 9:23.84, 2.27 seconds better than her previous personal best. Cox capitalized on this momentum in the SEC and NCAA meets, winning titles in the 500-meter and 1650-meter freestyle events.

Texas sets multiple program records

This season, multiple Longhorns set program records, putting themselves in an elite group of former Texas swimmers.

Freshmen Eva Okaro and Nikolett Padar, along with sophomore Lillie Nesty and junior Erin Gemmell, set the program 400-yard relay record with a gold medal performance in the SEC championships.

The four closed out the SEC championships, as the Longhorns went on to lift their second SEC title in two years of being in the conference.

Cox shattered the previous record in the 500-meter freestyle event, winning the event and boasting a time of 4:30.53. Cox competed alongside four other Longhorns during the final heat and was met with instant congratulations from her teammates. 

Padar made her mark during the Longhorns 800-meter freestyle relay event with a program record of 1:40.30, the leadoff time in Texas’ runner-up finish. 

Texas closes season with another top-three finish

Texas entered the NCAA championships as back-to-back SEC champions, looking to use that momentum to overtake Virginia and Stanford to end an over 30-year title drought. The Longhorns posted national championship performances but couldn’t overtake Virginia and Stanford, as Texas finished third.  With the bronze medal finish, the program secured a top-three finish for the sixth season in a row.