NCAA Women’s Championships, Day 2 Finals: Jillian Cox Overtakes Anna Peplowski to Secure 500 Free Title For Texas
She could have represented Texas in collegiate competition last year, but Jillian Cox chose to wait one year to maximize her chances at qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team. The presence of Katie Ledecky and Paige Madden in the mid-distance freestyle events meant Cox had to settle for a pair of third-place finishes at the all-important selection meet, but she has thrived in her first year as a Longhorn.
In December, Cox claimed her first senior-level international medal at the Short Course World Championships. This week, Cox arrived at the NCAA Championships seeded first in both the 500 and 1650 freestyle, and when she lined up for the 500-yard final, with the first individual of the meet title on the line, she came through against a field loaded with collegiate and Olympic veterans.
Indiana’s Anna Peplowski opened up a significant lead in the early portions of the race, splitting 50.82 after 100 yards, leading the field by 1.36 seconds. “I couldn’t do that to a hand touch,” Cox said. “On a good day.”
Cox swam in second place for the majority of the race and slowly closed the gap, overtaking Peplowski at the 350-yard mark and continued powering away from the field.
“That felt like a really mature swim for me. Everyone was gonna do it differently, and I was kind of prepared for that. I needed to go out fast but not too fast, and I needed to be able to hold on. I’m really proud of how I swam it,” Cox said. “I think it’s just training for the mile because then you get in the 500 freestyle and it feels way shorter. I knew I just needed to hold on, which is kind of my thing. I can just do three more 100s. That’s nothing.”
In the final six lengths of the race, Cox continued extending her lead, and she hit the wall in 4:31.58. The time was actually slower than the 4:30.68 she swam earlier this year, but she was 2.32 seconds ahead of the field for a resounding victory. Stanford’s Aurora Roghair, the fourth-place finisher in last year’s final, finished well to overtake Peplowski in the closing 75 yards and take second in 4:33.90 while Peplowski ended up third in 4:34.12.
Roghair has emerged as a star performer during the back half of her college career. After scoring two total points at the NCAA Championships during her first two years competing for the Cardinal, Roghair took second, fourth and 12th in her three individual events last season, and she kicked off this year’s meet by helping Stanford to a dominant win in the 800 free relay. Peplowski, meanwhile, only began specializing in the 500 free during her junior year, partially using the training for the 20-lap race as a means to improve for the 200-meter free, and she has earned two top-three finishes on the national level.
The event lost two of its main players in prelims when Florida teammates Bella Sims and Emma Weyant both missed the A-final. The two swimmers went 1-2 at last year’s NCAAs, and Sims is the No. 4 all-time performer in the event, but their elimination from contention reduced the list of true contenders to four.
Fourth place went to Virginia’s Katie Grimes in 4:34.25. Grimes owns the quickest lifetime best in college swimming, her top mark of 4:28.27 ranking third all-time behind Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh, but she fell almost six seconds short of that time Thursday evening. Grimes is a two-time U.S. Olympian and the Paris silver medalist in the 400-meter IM. Her Cavaliers teammate Cavan Gormsen ended up fifth in 4:34.51.
As for the new NCAA champion, Cox attributed her quick success in college to two key factors: grit built following her Trials disappointment and premier coaching.
“I learned a lot after Trials about myself,” Cox said. “I learned I’m more resilient than I thought. Obviously Trials was really rough, and that summer was really hard, but this year I learned I can just come back from it. It’s in the past.”
As for on-deck guidance, Cox has primarily trained under Texas men’s associate head coach Erik Posegay, who she called “the best distance coach in the world I believe.” Cox ended up training in a group with men because the Texas women’s group had been thinned out after numerous high-level swimmers graduated in recent years, and women’s head coach Carol Capitani told Cox the move could be beneficial.
“He took me in and done a great job,” Cox said of Posegay. “We’ve had a great season with the girls’ distance and the guys. He’s changed my mentality on distance swimming. He’s made the 500 freestyle a sprint for me, and that’s amazing. It’s been great swimming for him. I couldn’t be more thankful.”
The men’s group Cox trains with includes two swimmers seeded first in their respective events at next week’s NCAA Men’s Championships, Rex Maurer (500 free and 400 IM) and David Johnston (1650 free).
“That’s pretty rough, actually,” Cox said of her training with the men. “I try not to look at them, but I think I’m getting closer. You can ask David next week.”
Event 3 Women 500 Yard Freestyle
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NCAA: N 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
Meet: M 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
American: A 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
US Open: O 4:24.06 3/16/2017 Katie Ledecky, Stanford
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
=========================================================================
=== Championship Final ===
1 Cox, Jillian SO Texas 4:35.84 4:31.58 20
r:+0.66 25.23 52.18 (26.95)
1:19.47 (27.29) 1:47.06 (27.59)
2:14.90 (27.84) 2:42.66 (27.76)
3:10.20 (27.54) 3:37.48 (27.28)
4:04.74 (27.26) 4:31.58 (26.84)
2 Roghair, Aurora SR Stanford 4:34.87 4:33.90 17
r:+0.77 26.15 53.96 (27.81)
1:21.82 (27.86) 1:49.53 (27.71)
2:16.96 (27.43) 2:44.26 (27.30)
3:11.67 (27.41) 3:38.96 (27.29)
4:06.47 (27.51) 4:33.90 (27.43)
3 Peplowski, Anna SR Indiana 4:33.93 4:34.12 16
r:+0.71 24.22 50.82 (26.60)
1:18.27 (27.45) 1:46.21 (27.94)
2:14.22 (28.01) 2:42.27 (28.05)
3:10.29 (28.02) 3:38.46 (28.17)
4:06.48 (28.02) 4:34.12 (27.64)
4 Grimes, Katie FR Virginia 4:36.03 4:34.25 15
r:+0.70 25.09 52.57 (27.48)
1:20.27 (27.70) 1:48.05 (27.78)
2:16.20 (28.15) 2:44.46 (28.26)
3:12.33 (27.87) 3:39.83 (27.50)
4:07.49 (27.66) 4:34.25 (26.76)
5 Gormsen, Cavan SO Virginia 4:36.15 4:34.51 14
r:+0.72 25.58 53.22 (27.64)
1:20.98 (27.76) 1:48.93 (27.95)
2:16.46 (27.53) 2:44.25 (27.79)
3:12.34 (28.09) 3:40.27 (27.93)
4:07.66 (27.39) 4:34.51 (26.85)
6 Nikanorov, Mila FR OSU 4:37.01 4:36.38 13
r:+0.72 26.15 53.95 (27.80)
1:22.01 (28.06) 1:50.10 (28.09)
2:18.20 (28.10) 2:46.10 (27.90)
3:13.99 (27.89) 3:41.81 (27.82)
4:09.47 (27.66) 4:36.38 (26.91)
7 Gan, Ching SR Indiana 4:36.97 4:36.69 12
r:+0.60 25.55 53.27 (27.72)
1:21.04 (27.77) 1:48.98 (27.94)
2:16.91 (27.93) 2:44.66 (27.75)
3:12.71 (28.05) 3:40.93 (28.22)
4:09.09 (28.16) 4:36.69 (27.60)
8 Stege, Rachel SR Georgia 4:36.41 4:37.10 11
r:+0.76 25.80 53.27 (27.47)
1:21.23 (27.96) 1:49.43 (28.20)
2:17.70 (28.27) 2:45.75 (28.05)
3:13.88 (28.13) 3:41.83 (27.95)
4:09.76 (27.93) 4:37.10 (27.34)
