Texas Women Reload Around Jillian Cox, Erin Gemmell, Divers for 2025-26 Season
The class of swimmers that began competing for the University of Texas in the fall of 2020 will be remembered as one of the best in program history. That group, allowed five years of NCAA eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, led the program to top-three national finishes each year and three straight runnerup finishes. The group that made it all five years included Olivia Bray, Grace Cooper, Ava Longi and Emma Sticklen, and all contributed to Longhorn points at their final NCAA Championships.
The most successful out of that group was Sticklen, who won three consecutive national titles in the 200 butterfly while finishing her career as NCAA-record holder in the event. Also gone from the Texas roster is accomplished diver Hailey Hernandez, but head coach Carol Capitani and her team have reloaded with sights on another top-three campaign. Two returning NCAA champions, a U.S. Olympian and two international freestyle specialists with significant big-meet experience will give the team a nice place to start.
Jillian Cox heads into her sophomore season after an unabashedly successful first year. Coming off missing the Olympic team by one spot in two different events, Cox quickly became the country’s best distance swimmer. She captured the NCAA title in the 500 free by more than two seconds, and her margin of victory in the 1650-yard race was almost six seconds. She enters the 2025-26 season expected to build on those wins, and it’s worth noting that Stanford’s Aurora Roghair, the runnerup in both races last season, has graduated.
The other winner for Texas last season was diver Alejandra Estudillo, who took first in the 3-meter event as well as sixth on 1-meter and ninth on platform. Bayleigh Cranford is also back after taking sixth on platform and seventh on 3-meter at last season’s NCAAs. Diving is the primary reason Texas had a chance at catching Stanford for second place entering the final day of the meet, and that trend could continue this year.
Erin Gemmell — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Erin Gemmell is now in her third year of college swimming after representing the U.S. for three consecutive years at global competitions. In 2025, she was a World Championship finalist in the 200-meter free while handling finals legs on the 400 and 800 free relays, winning silver medals for both. Gemmell jumped into action in the 400 free relay on short notice when Gretchen Walsh was too ill too compete; four days later, Gemmell had to overcome her own symptoms to keep the American team in contention over double the distance.
Gemmell is better in long course but still a solid short course performer, qualifying for the A-final in the 200 free at last year’s NCAAs while just missing scoring in the 100 free and swimming on multiple top-eight relays. Given the departures from last season, her role is likely to expand this spring.
The only swimmer for Texas to score in three individual events last year and return for this season is Campbell Stoll, who was a 200 fly A-finalist along with Sticklen while swimming in the consolation heat of both individual medley events. Campbell Chase was also in the 200 IM B-final. Stoll and Chase were part of a massive freshman class for Texas that also included Cox, 100 breaststroke fifth-place finisher Piper Enge and a pair of swimmers who finished 10th in one event each on the national level, Lillie Nesty and Kate Hurst.
Complementing this returning core are the newcomers, led by Eva Okaro and Nikolett Padar. Okaro is a sprint specialist from Great Britain who placed 11th in the 50-meter free at the World Championships, her time of 24.55 leaving her just a tenth out of qualification for the final. At that same meet, Padar placed 19th for Hungary in the 200 free, less than a half-second away from earning a semifinal swim. Both swimmers have Olympic experience, and both helped their respective countries to relay silver medals at the Short Course World Championships last December, Okaro in the 400 medley relay and Padar in the 800 free relay.
Given the strengths of the swimmers around them on the Longhorns’ roster, Okaro and Padar should immediately step in as key contributors in individual events and relays. Freestyle speed will be sorely needed following the flurry of graduations after last season. If Okaro and Padar can quickly adapt to the short course yards format and the rest of the top performers continue their momentum from last season, Texas will find itself back in the chase for a top-three national finish.
