NCAA Championships, Day 4: Jillian Cox Dominates 1650 Free For Second Title as Texas Takes Over Second Place
It took until the final third of the 500 freestyle final for Texas freshman Jillian Cox to overtake her Olympic-medal-winning challengers and claim the NCAA title. But the fastest heat of the 1650-yard event brought a dose of wire-to-wire dominance at the expense of college swimming’s veteran distance standouts. It took only 250 yards for Cox to build a lead of more than a second, and she ended up pulling almost six seconds ahead by the conclusion of the 66 lengths.
Cox maintained 28-low splits throughout the race as the two swimmers who were closest to her early on, Georgia’s Abby McCulloh and Indiana’s Ching Gan, fell off the pace. The lone swimmer who had any hope of getting close was Stanford’s Aurora Roghair, whose brilliant finish brought her a runnerup finish behind Cox in the 500 free. Roghair took over second place in the middle portion of the race, and shortly after the 1000-yard mark, Roghair was quicker than Cox by small margins on a handful of 50-yard splits but never enough to pose a significant threat.
“She has an amazing back half, probably the best back half I’ve ever seen,” Cox said. “I knew that she was going to do that. My goal was just try to create a gap big enough in the front half that I would be fine when she made that move and then when she did make that move, try to react as much as I could. I think that played out pretty well for me tonight.”
Cox finished in 15:33.54 to secure the sweep of the distance events. “Feels pretty good. I can’t say that I’m necessarily the most happy with performances this week, but first NCAAs, it’s just about winning,” Cox said. “I definitely think I was ready to break 15:30 this week. I think there were a lot of emotions this week with our whole entire team, and I think I let that get to me. The excitement and everything, it all has an effect on your swimming, and I think I let that get to me. It’s just first time at NCAAs and how it is. I’ll take that with me from now on. I’ll work on that in the future.”
Roghair took second in 15:36.21, and third went to Gan in 15:42.40. McCulloh, last year’s winner in the event, held off a furious closing surge by Cal’s Maya Gehringer to secure fourth place, 15:48.03 to 15:48.27.
Notably, Virginia’s Katie Grimes fell to 13th place, clocking 15:56.31. Grimes swam in the last afternoon heat and had the early lead before fading in the middle portion of the race. Grimes has represented the U.S. internationally in the 1500-meter free the last three years, and she ranks No. 5 all-time in this evet at 15:26.17, but she has struggled mightily in her first NCAA Championships. Grimes was fourth in both the 500 free and 400 IM, and as with this mile, her best times were quicker than the eventual winning marks.
Cox has represented the U.S. in international competition before starting college, and she reached the final of the 800-meter free at the 2023 World Championships. But following a pair of third-place finishes at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Cox has taken huge steps forward since entering NCAA competition.
That has included a full-scale embrace of the one-mile race and its variants: she secured bronze in the 1500-meter race at the Short Course World Championships and cut her best time by 28 seconds over the course of this season. She only broke 16:00 for the first time in March 2024, and now she is the eighth-fastest performer ever at 15:30.33.
“It’s something that Erik Posegay is great at coaching,” Cox said. “I’ve just inherited the mile. It just came to me. He told me in the beginning, ‘You could be really good at the mile,’ and I think I hadn’t really ever taken it seriously me in my career. When he started coaching me, I started taking it more seriously, and it’s really worked for me well this year.”
Cox will now move into long course season with serious momentum as she aims to return to the No. 1 international squad for the United States. In June, she will be among the favorites to qualify for the World Championships team in the 400, 800 and 1500 free thanks largely to the capabilities she showed during her inaugural run on the college level.
“I think I’ve built a lot of confidence this year,” she said. “Obviously my confidence fell a little bit after Olympic Trials. It was hard to get back into racing and feeling confidence in my races. I think this week, maybe not my best performance, but I think my confidence of knowing I can go these times is back, so I think that’s what I need to carry into long course.”
The win by Cox plus a 10th-place finish from fellow Longhorn first-year Kate Hurst moved Texas into second place in the team standings ahead of Stanford for the first time all week. The Cardinal got 17 points from Roghair but 27 points for Texas turned a four-point deficit into a six-point advantage (315 to 309) with six events remaining.
Event 15 Women 1650 Yard Freestyle
=========================================================================
NCAA: N 15:03.31 11/18/2017Katie Ledecky, Stanford
Meet: M 15:07.70 3/17/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
American: A 15:01.41 3/12/2023 Katie Ledecky, Gator Swim Club
US Open: O 15:01.41 3/12/2023 Katie Ledecky, Gator Swim Club
Name Year School Seed Finals Points
=========================================================================
1 Cox, Jillian SO Texas 15:30.33 15:33.54 20
r:+0.68 26.23 54.65 (28.42)
1:23.20 (28.55) 1:51.86 (28.66)
2:20.36 (28.50) 2:49.00 (28.64)
3:17.52 (28.52) 3:46.07 (28.55)
4:14.47 (28.40) 4:42.82 (28.35)
5:11.28 (28.46) 5:39.75 (28.47)
6:08.22 (28.47) 6:36.52 (28.30)
7:04.85 (28.33) 7:33.29 (28.44)
8:02.06 (28.77) 8:30.46 (28.40)
8:58.99 (28.53) 9:27.36 (28.37)
9:55.61 (28.25) 10:24.09 (28.48)
10:52.51 (28.42) 11:20.84 (28.33)
11:48.94 (28.10) 12:17.25 (28.31)
12:45.55 (28.30) 13:13.86 (28.31)
13:41.97 (28.11) 14:10.09 (28.12)
14:38.23 (28.14) 15:06.27 (28.04) 15:33.54 (27.27)
2 Roghair, Aurora SR Stanford 15:36.43 15:39.21 17
r:+0.77 26.69 55.25 (28.56)
1:24.18 (28.93) 1:53.22 (29.04)
2:22.29 (29.07) 2:51.39 (29.10)
3:20.65 (29.26) 3:49.72 (29.07)
4:18.68 (28.96) 4:47.58 (28.90)
5:16.16 (28.58) 5:44.82 (28.66)
6:13.58 (28.76) 6:42.13 (28.55)
7:10.58 (28.45) 7:38.94 (28.36)
8:07.03 (28.09) 8:35.41 (28.38)
9:03.68 (28.27) 9:31.94 (28.26)
10:00.16 (28.22) 10:28.15 (27.99)
10:56.23 (28.08) 11:24.55 (28.32)
11:52.87 (28.32) 12:21.00 (28.13)
12:49.35 (28.35) 13:17.52 (28.17)
13:45.83 (28.31) 14:14.34 (28.51)
14:42.62 (28.28) 15:11.04 (28.42) 15:39.21 (28.17)
3 Gan, Ching SR Indiana 15:46.22 15:42.40 16
r:+0.61 26.36 55.01 (28.65)
1:23.58 (28.57) 1:52.56 (28.98)
2:21.62 (29.06) 2:50.39 (28.77)
3:19.18 (28.79) 3:47.93 (28.75)
4:16.65 (28.72) 4:45.32 (28.67)
5:14.06 (28.74) 5:42.68 (28.62)
6:11.50 (28.82) 6:40.14 (28.64)
7:08.81 (28.67) 7:37.48 (28.67)
8:06.04 (28.56) 8:34.67 (28.63)
9:03.30 (28.63) 9:31.89 (28.59)
10:00.40 (28.51) 10:28.79 (28.39)
10:57.19 (28.40) 11:25.53 (28.34)
11:53.89 (28.36) 12:22.47 (28.58)
12:51.10 (28.63) 13:19.65 (28.55)
13:48.12 (28.47) 14:16.86 (28.74)
14:45.78 (28.92) 15:14.43 (28.65) 15:42.40 (27.97)
4 McCulloh, Abby SR Georgia 15:45.77 15:48.03 15
r:+0.72 26.45 55.18 (28.73)
1:23.89 (28.71) 1:52.62 (28.73)
2:21.37 (28.75) 2:50.10 (28.73)
3:18.85 (28.75) 3:47.55 (28.70)
4:16.16 (28.61) 4:44.86 (28.70)
5:13.74 (28.88) 5:42.27 (28.53)
6:10.83 (28.56) 6:39.43 (28.60)
7:08.03 (28.60) 7:36.86 (28.83)
8:05.60 (28.74) 8:34.41 (28.81)
9:03.14 (28.73) 9:32.16 (29.02)
10:01.08 (28.92) 10:30.27 (29.19)
10:59.17 (28.90) 11:28.10 (28.93)
11:57.17 (29.07) 12:26.20 (29.03)
12:55.17 (28.97) 13:24.43 (29.26)
13:53.46 (29.03) 14:22.71 (29.25)
14:52.09 (29.38) 15:21.11 (29.02) 15:48.03 (26.92)
5 Geringer, Maya 5Y California 15:51.01 15:48.27 14
r:+0.64 26.90 55.79 (28.89)
1:24.79 (29.00) 1:54.06 (29.27)
2:23.56 (29.50) 2:52.99 (29.43)
3:22.35 (29.36) 3:51.47 (29.12)
4:20.63 (29.16) 4:49.68 (29.05)
5:18.57 (28.89) 5:47.42 (28.85)
6:16.02 (28.60) 6:44.75 (28.73)
7:13.38 (28.63) 7:41.94 (28.56)
8:10.49 (28.55) 8:39.07 (28.58)
9:07.56 (28.49) 9:36.05 (28.49)
10:04.47 (28.42) 10:32.82 (28.35)
11:01.55 (28.73) 11:30.18 (28.63)
11:58.83 (28.65) 12:27.74 (28.91)
12:56.65 (28.91) 13:25.45 (28.80)
13:54.36 (28.91) 14:23.03 (28.67)
14:51.54 (28.51) 15:20.26 (28.72) 15:48.27 (28.01)
6 Jorgenson, Gena JR Nebraska 15:56.70 15:49.99 13
r:+0.78 26.61 55.18 (28.57)
1:24.13 (28.95) 1:53.03 (28.90)
2:21.96 (28.93) 2:50.98 (29.02)
3:19.97 (28.99) 3:49.12 (29.15)
4:18.08 (28.96) 4:47.02 (28.94)
5:16.02 (29.00) 5:44.94 (28.92)
6:13.82 (28.88) 6:42.76 (28.94)
7:11.64 (28.88) 7:40.50 (28.86)
8:09.37 (28.87) 8:38.09 (28.72)
9:06.86 (28.77) 9:35.69 (28.83)
10:04.30 (28.61) 10:33.08 (28.78)
11:01.95 (28.87) 11:30.58 (28.63)
11:59.21 (28.63) 12:28.15 (28.94)
12:57.38 (29.23) 13:26.54 (29.16)
13:55.49 (28.95) 14:24.41 (28.92)
14:53.28 (28.87) 15:22.14 (28.86) 15:49.99 (27.85)
7 Nikanorov, Mila FR OSU 15:49.26 15:51.95 12
r:+0.69 26.97 55.82 (28.85)
1:24.99 (29.17) 1:54.01 (29.02)
2:23.09 (29.08) 2:52.51 (29.42)
3:21.76 (29.25) 3:50.90 (29.14)
4:20.21 (29.31) 4:49.49 (29.28)
5:18.47 (28.98) 5:47.63 (29.16)
6:16.45 (28.82) 6:45.24 (28.79)
7:13.93 (28.69) 7:42.59 (28.66)
8:11.39 (28.80) 8:40.20 (28.81)
9:08.82 (28.62) 9:37.73 (28.91)
10:06.52 (28.79) 10:35.47 (28.95)
11:04.23 (28.76) 11:33.22 (28.99)
12:02.04 (28.82) 12:31.07 (29.03)
12:59.67 (28.60) 13:28.57 (28.90)
13:57.69 (29.12) 14:26.65 (28.96)
14:55.58 (28.93) 15:24.25 (28.67) 15:51.95 (27.70)
8 Travis, Chase 5Y NC State 15:59.15 15:52.06 11
r:+0.77 27.15 56.31 (29.16)
1:25.23 (28.92) 1:54.43 (29.20)
2:23.73 (29.30) 2:52.83 (29.10)
3:22.01 (29.18) 3:51.08 (29.07)
4:20.15 (29.07) 4:49.21 (29.06)
5:18.26 (29.05) 5:47.42 (29.16)
6:16.65 (29.23) 6:45.29 (28.64)
7:13.98 (28.69) 7:42.55 (28.57)
8:11.29 (28.74) 8:40.26 (28.97)
9:09.11 (28.85) 9:38.08 (28.97)
10:06.96 (28.88) 10:35.78 (28.82)
11:04.54 (28.76) 11:33.10 (28.56)
12:02.01 (28.91) 12:30.86 (28.85)
12:59.81 (28.95) 13:28.82 (29.01)
13:57.82 (29.00) 14:26.92 (29.10)
14:55.77 (28.85) 15:24.35 (28.58) 15:52.06 (27.71)
9 McKenna, Paige SR Wisconsin 16:00.75 15:52.21 9
r:+0.78 26.87 55.72 (28.85)
1:24.67 (28.95) 1:53.83 (29.16)
2:23.07 (29.24) 2:52.30 (29.23)
3:21.58 (29.28) 3:51.03 (29.45)
4:20.34 (29.31) 4:49.44 (29.10)
5:18.70 (29.26) 5:47.79 (29.09)
6:17.00 (29.21) 6:46.06 (29.06)
7:15.05 (28.99) 7:44.10 (29.05)
8:13.04 (28.94) 8:41.97 (28.93)
9:10.82 (28.85) 9:39.74 (28.92)
10:08.37 (28.63) 10:36.98 (28.61)
11:05.47 (28.49) 11:34.18 (28.71)
12:02.95 (28.77) 12:31.54 (28.59)
13:00.15 (28.61) 13:28.72 (28.57)
13:57.34 (28.62) 14:26.05 (28.71)
14:54.84 (28.79) 15:23.75 (28.91) 15:52.21 (28.46)
10 Hurst, Kate FR Texas 15:47.93 15:54.37 7
r:+0.70 26.86 55.76 (28.90)
1:24.91 (29.15) 1:54.20 (29.29)
2:23.56 (29.36) 2:52.72 (29.16)
3:21.96 (29.24) 3:51.19 (29.23)
4:20.46 (29.27) 4:49.52 (29.06)
5:18.32 (28.80) 5:46.98 (28.66)
6:15.74 (28.76) 6:44.39 (28.65)
7:13.33 (28.94) 7:42.18 (28.85)
8:11.11 (28.93) 8:40.05 (28.94)
9:09.12 (29.07) 9:38.23 (29.11)
10:07.29 (29.06) 10:36.35 (29.06)
11:05.39 (29.04) 11:34.44 (29.05)
12:03.52 (29.08) 12:32.66 (29.14)
13:01.76 (29.10) 13:30.95 (29.19)
13:59.99 (29.04) 14:28.92 (28.93)
14:57.88 (28.96) 15:26.60 (28.72) 15:54.37 (27.77)
11 Mattes, Michaela SO Florida 15:59.38 15:54.98 6
r:+0.75 26.68 55.12 (28.44)
1:23.79 (28.67) 1:52.79 (29.00)
2:21.84 (29.05) 2:50.79 (28.95)
3:19.83 (29.04) 3:48.82 (28.99)
4:17.81 (28.99) 4:46.74 (28.93)
5:15.75 (29.01) 5:44.75 (29.00)
6:13.77 (29.02) 6:42.84 (29.07)
7:11.91 (29.07) 7:41.16 (29.25)
8:10.32 (29.16) 8:39.61 (29.29)
9:08.85 (29.24) 9:38.18 (29.33)
10:07.29 (29.11) 10:36.46 (29.17)
11:05.49 (29.03) 11:34.52 (29.03)
12:03.93 (29.41) 12:33.04 (29.11)
13:02.23 (29.19) 13:31.56 (29.33)
14:00.89 (29.33) 14:30.07 (29.18)
14:58.97 (28.90) 15:27.75 (28.78) 15:54.98 (27.23)
12 Gormsen, Cavan SO Virginia 15:54.05 15:55.13 5
r:+0.74 26.48 55.12 (28.64)
1:23.92 (28.80) 1:52.97 (29.05)
2:21.93 (28.96) 2:50.96 (29.03)
3:20.08 (29.12) 3:49.06 (28.98)
4:18.23 (29.17) 4:47.49 (29.26)
5:16.59 (29.10) 5:45.61 (29.02)
6:14.75 (29.14) 6:43.90 (29.15)
7:12.92 (29.02) 7:42.06 (29.14)
8:11.39 (29.33) 8:40.66 (29.27)
9:10.05 (29.39) 9:39.33 (29.28)
10:08.79 (29.46) 10:38.12 (29.33)
11:07.78 (29.66) 11:36.87 (29.09)
12:05.67 (28.80) 12:34.43 (28.76)
13:03.32 (28.89) 13:32.16 (28.84)
14:01.33 (29.17) 14:30.49 (29.16)
14:59.42 (28.93) 15:28.06 (28.64) 15:55.13 (27.07)
13 Grimes, Katie FR Virginia 15:53.40 15:56.31 4
r:+0.66 25.50 53.73 (28.23)
1:22.44 (28.71) 1:51.25 (28.81)
2:20.07 (28.82) 2:48.77 (28.70)
3:18.06 (29.29) 3:47.09 (29.03)
4:16.21 (29.12) 4:45.48 (29.27)
5:14.43 (28.95) 5:43.40 (28.97)
6:12.68 (29.28) 6:41.83 (29.15)
7:10.92 (29.09) 7:40.42 (29.50)
8:09.89 (29.47) 8:39.48 (29.59)
9:08.90 (29.42) 9:38.38 (29.48)
10:07.64 (29.26) 10:36.91 (29.27)
11:06.28 (29.37) 11:35.74 (29.46)
12:05.20 (29.46) 12:34.72 (29.52)
13:04.00 (29.28) 13:33.32 (29.32)
14:02.74 (29.42) 14:31.59 (28.85)
15:00.66 (29.07) 15:28.99 (28.33) 15:56.31 (27.32)
14 Kennedy, Eliot SR Minnesota 15:54.05 15:56.51 3
r:+0.85 26.69 55.24 (28.55)
1:24.06 (28.82) 1:53.02 (28.96)
2:21.95 (28.93) 2:50.93 (28.98)
3:20.01 (29.08) 3:48.96 (28.95)
4:18.04 (29.08) 4:47.05 (29.01)
5:16.10 (29.05) 5:45.12 (29.02)
6:14.08 (28.96) 6:43.03 (28.95)
7:12.10 (29.07) 7:41.09 (28.99)
8:10.00 (28.91) 8:39.01 (29.01)
9:07.97 (28.96) 9:36.96 (28.99)
10:05.99 (29.03) 10:34.96 (28.97)
11:04.23 (29.27) 11:33.58 (29.35)
12:03.22 (29.64) 12:32.82 (29.60)
13:02.50 (29.68) 13:31.80 (29.30)
14:01.16 (29.36) 14:30.69 (29.53)
14:59.98 (29.29) 15:28.77 (28.79) 15:56.51 (27.74)
15 Weyant, Emma SR Florida 15:53.23 15:56.56 2
r:+0.76 26.79 55.77 (28.98)
1:24.92 (29.15) 1:54.27 (29.35)
2:23.60 (29.33) 2:52.81 (29.21)
3:22.16 (29.35) 3:51.44 (29.28)
4:20.58 (29.14) 4:49.67 (29.09)
5:18.68 (29.01) 5:47.70 (29.02)
6:16.64 (28.94) 6:45.62 (28.98)
7:14.37 (28.75) 7:43.20 (28.83)
8:12.29 (29.09) 8:41.27 (28.98)
9:10.14 (28.87) 9:38.98 (28.84)
10:07.91 (28.93) 10:37.08 (29.17)
11:05.93 (28.85) 11:35.14 (29.21)
12:04.25 (29.11) 12:33.33 (29.08)
13:02.52 (29.19) 13:31.92 (29.40)
14:00.97 (29.05) 14:30.20 (29.23)
14:59.37 (29.17) 15:28.47 (29.10) 15:56.56 (28.09)
16 Brousseau, Julie FR Florida 16:00.47 15:57.60 1
r:+0.81 26.72 55.60 (28.88)
1:24.84 (29.24) 1:54.25 (29.41)
2:23.49 (29.24) 2:53.05 (29.56)
3:22.31 (29.26) 3:51.70 (29.39)
4:21.19 (29.49) 4:50.25 (29.06)
5:19.37 (29.12) 5:48.61 (29.24)
6:17.68 (29.07) 6:46.74 (29.06)
7:15.85 (29.11) 7:44.79 (28.94)
8:13.86 (29.07) 8:43.22 (29.36)
9:12.42 (29.20) 9:41.66 (29.24)
10:10.49 (28.83) 10:39.54 (29.05)
11:08.46 (28.92) 11:37.56 (29.10)
12:06.62 (29.06) 12:35.89 (29.27)
13:05.16 (29.27) 13:34.42 (29.26)
14:03.96 (29.54) 14:33.06 (29.10)
15:01.98 (28.92) 15:30.59 (28.61) 15:57.60 (27.01)
