No. 2 Texas women’s swim and dive is looking to finally capture a national championship title for the first time since 1991 after four top-three finishes in the NCAA tournament, including a stretch of three consecutive runner-up finishes. After winning back-to-back SEC team titles, Texas hopes to knock Virginia off its perch to win it all.
On Wednesday, officially qualified swimmers for the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships were announced. Among those qualified are a few Longhorns. However, qualified divers will be finalized after the NCAA Diving Championships on March 12.
Sophomore Jillian Cox headlines the Longhorns’ roster on the swimming side and will compete in the 1,650-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle events. Cox, fresh off back-to-back titles and a record-breaking performance at the conference championships, will look to repeat that success at the NCAA championships. Along with Cox, the Longhorns will rely on juniors Campbell Stoll and Angie Coe. Both swimmers were part of Texas’ runner-up finish in 2024 and captured conference titles in their individual events. Stoll will compete in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly, as well as the 400 individual medley, while Coe will swim the 200-yard breast stroke, 200- and 400-yard individual medley.
Despite strong individual performers, Texas must improve in diving and relay events if they want to capture the team championship. During the 2025 championships, the Longhorns had no medal finishes in relay events and just one medal finish in diving.
With Virginia and Stanford expected to be in the mix in every event, Texas must find points in the relay events and will look to do so in both the 200 and 400 medley relay events, having medaled in both events during the conference tournament and coming off their best relay performance of the season. Texas set a program record with a time of 3:08.14 in the 400-yard freestyle relay to give them confidence heading into the tournament.
Virginia secured their fifth straight national title last year at the championships. This made them the third program, alongside Texas and Stanford, to win five consecutive national titles. However, the Longhorns have their sight on the podium and are looking to prevent a sixth for Virginia.
The last time the Longhorns earned first at the championships was back in 1991.
The NCAA Swimming and Diving championships will be held at Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, with the women’s events scheduled to begin March 18-21 and men’s events March 25-28.