The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Women’s Swimming & Diving garners four Big 12 postseason awards
03.30.2023 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Texas swept the student-athlete honors for the seventh-straight year.
IRVING, Texas – Women's Swimming and Diving earned four of the Big 12 Conference's postseason awards, the conference announced on Thursday. Junior Emma Sticklen was named Swimmer of the Year, sophomore Hailey Hernandez earned Diver of the Year and freshman Lydia Jacoby was chosen Newcomer of the Year by the league's head coaches, while Texas head coach Carol Capitani garnered Swimming Coach of the Year honors. It marks the seventh consecutive year in which Texas student-athletes have earned the league's top Swimmer, Diver and Newcomer accolades.
Sticklen was named the Big 12 Swimmer of the won the 200-yard butterfly national title at the NCAA Championship meet and earned bronze medals in the 200 medley and 400 medley relays to help Texas to a national runner-up finish for the second consecutive year. Her 200-fly championship time of 1:49.95 established program, meet, Big 12 and pool records and was the fourth-fastest swim ever in the event, placing her as the fourth-fastest performer. It marked the first time a Longhorn won the national title in the event since 1982 (AIAW, Kim Linehan). She swam the butterfly leg in the 200 medley relay (1:32.22) and 400 medley relay (3:25.18), in which Texas established program records, while also earning All-American honors in the 100 fly, 200 IM and 200 free relay.
The Katy, Texas native won Big 12 titles in the 200 fly, 200 free relay, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay, and won silver in the 200 free and 200 IM. She twice earned Big 12 Swimmer of the Week honors (Oct. 12, 2022; Feb. 1, 2023) and was named a third-team Academic All-America (3.73 GPA, exercise science) by the College Sports Communicators.
Hernandez was named Big 12 Diver of the Year for the second time in her career. She claimed All-American honors on 1-meter after placing fourth at the NCAA Championships and won the 3-meter consolation final to earn Honorable Mention All-American accolades. At the Big 12 Championships, she earned Diver of the Meet honors for the second-straight year after winning the 1-meter conference crown and placing second on 3-meter. She claimed Big 12 Diver of the Week honors on Feb. 1 after sweeping the springboard competition in Texas' pair of dual meet victories over NC State. At USA Winter Nationals in December, Hernandez won gold on 1-meter (573.85) and silver on 3-meter (510.60).
Jacoby won the 100-yard breaststroke national title with a time of 57.03 – the fifth-fastest American and seventh-fastest performer in the event. She was the first Texas swimmer to win a national title since 2013 and first in the 100 breast since 1988. The Seward, Alaska native was also part of Texas' 400 medley relay that won bronze and set program and conferences records with a time of 3:25.18. She won Big 12 titles in the 100 breast (57.29) and 200 breast (2:04.32), establishing National Age Group (17-18) records in both events and a meet record in the 100 breast. Jacoby earned three Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors (Oct. 26, 2022; Nov. 9, 2022; Jan. 18, 2023). She tallied victories in the 100 breast and 200 breast in a dual meet against NC State, as well as wins in both events in a double dual meet against Ohio State and Alabama.
Capitani was named Big 12 Swimming Coach of the Year for the seventh consecutive year and the ninth time in her career. She led Texas to a second-straight national runner-up finish and 11th consecutive conference crown.
Texas placed in the top-three at the national championships for the third year in a row. The stretch of three consecutive top-three results is the longest for Texas since 1993-95, and the back-to-back top-two finishes is the best stretch since 1991-92. Texas had two swimmers win individual titles for the first time since 2001.
Texas won individual national championships in the 100 breast (Jacoby) and 200 fly (Sticklen), won silver in the 200 breast (Anna Elendt) and bronze in the 500 free (Olivia Bray), 100 breast (Elendt) and 200 fly (Kelly Pash). Texas also won a trio of bronze medals in the relays – 200 medley, 400 medley and 800 free – establishing program and conference records in both medley relays (200 – 1:32.22; 400 – 3:25.18).
At the Big 12 Championships, Texas won 17 of 18 swimming events to win the conference title for the 11th consecutive year, all under Capitani. Texas established meet records in the 200 back (Bray, 1:50.09), 100 breast (Jacoby, 57.29), 100 fly (Bray – 50.07), 400 free relay (3:11.29) and 800 free relay (6:56.49).
Players Mentioned
