Jillian Cox is Distance Dominant

College Swimming Reset (Women’s Freestyle): Jillian Cox Maintaining Distance Dominance

The school swimming season has entered its dwelling stretch. January options the ultimate twin meets of the season earlier than convention championships in February and the NCAA Championships in March. Prior to the vacation break, swimmers set themselves up for championship season with robust performances at numerous midseason invitationals. Here is a have a look at each ladies’s particular person occasion as of proper now, together with the information, the winners from the 2025 NCAA Championships, the highest returning swimmers, the highest occasions within the nation this season and the highest performances in historical past.

Below are the statistics for the ladies’s freestyle occasions, which see the departure of Gretchen Walsh however the return of Jillian Cox following her wins within the 500 and 1650 free final season.

50 Freestyle

• U.S. Open Record: Gretchen Walsh – 20.37 (2024/2025)
• American Record: Gretchen Walsh – 20.37 (2024/2025)
• NCAA Record: Gretchen Walsh – 20.37 (2024/2025)
• 2025 Champion: Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 20.49
• Top Returning Finisher: Claire Curzan, Virginia – 21.11

Current 2025-26 Rankings:

1. Torri Huske, Stanford – 21.01
2. Sara Curtis, Virginia – 21.18
3. Julia Dennis, Louisville – 21.21
4. Camille Spink, Tennessee – 21.25
5. Brady Kendall, Michigan – 21.34

All-Time Rankings (daring = presently in school):

1. Gretchen Walsh – 20.37
2. Maggie Mac Neil – 20.79
3. Kate Douglass – 20.84
4. Abbey Weitzeil – 20.90
5. Torri Huske – 20.92
6. Erika Brown Connolly – 21.03
7. Julia Dennis – 21.08
8. Katharine Berkoff – 21.09
9. Jasmine Nocentini – 21.10
10. Claire Curzan – 21.11

Walsh has graduated after a legendary NCAA swimming profession, leaving just one swimmer presently in school that has ever gone beneath the 21-second barrier. Torri Huske has eschewed the 50 free in favor of the 200 IM at earlier NCAA meets, however the brand new schedule set to debut this yr makes a run on the occasion extra possible. However, we should always nonetheless anticipate an in depth contest in a race this quick. Claire Curzan and Julia Dennis are the highest returners whereas Sara Curtis has made an affect already at Virginia.

100 Freestyle

• U.S. Open Record: Gretchen Walsh – 44.71 (2025)
• American Record: Gretchen Walsh – 44.71 (2025)
• NCAA Record: Gretchen Walsh – 44.71 (2025)
• 2025 Champion: Gretchen Walsh, Virginia – 44.71
• Top Returning Finisher: Torri Huske, Stanford – 46.01

Current 2025-26 Rankings:

1. Anna Moesch, Virginia – 45.98
2. Torri Huske, Stanford – 46.15
3. Eva Okaro, Texas – 46.49
4. Camille Spink, Tennessee – 46.54
5. Sara Curtis, Virginia – 46.62

All-Time Rankings (daring = presently in school):

1. Gretchen Walsh – 44.71
2. Simone Manuel – 45.56
3. Erika Brown Connolly – 45.83
4. Kate Douglass – 45.86
5. Anna Moesch – 45.98
6. Torri Huske – 46.01
7. Maggie Mac Neil – 46.02
8. Anna Hopkin/Mallory Comerford – 46.20
10. Katharine Berkoff – 46.23

As with the 50 free, the absence of Walsh opens the door for Huske to win the nationwide title, however she is going to get an enormous push from Anna Moesch, the fourth-place finisher eventually yr’s meet who has already develop into the fifth member of the sub-46 membership this season.

200 Freestyle

• U.S. Open Record: Missy Franklin – 1:39.10 (2015)
• American Record: Missy Franklin – 1:39.10 (2015)
• NCAA Record: Missy Franklin – 1:39.10 (2015)
• 2025 Champion: Anna Peplowski, Indiana – 1:40.50
• Top Returning Finisher: Minna Abraham, USC – 1:40.56

Current 2025-26 Rankings:

1. Anna Moesch, Virginia – 1:40.25
2. Minna Abraham, USC – 1:40.47
3. Bella Sims, Michigan – 1:41.17
4. Liberty Clark, Indiana – 1:41.27
5. Stephanie Balduccini, Michigan – 1:41.40

All-Time Rankings (daring = presently in school):

1. Missy Franklin – 1:39.10
2. Gretchen Walsh – 1:39.34
3. Mallory Comerford – 1:39.80
4. Anna Moesch – 1:40.25
5. Katie Ledecky – 1:40.36
6. Simone Manuel/Taylor Ruck – 1:40.37
8. Minna Abraham – 1:40.47
9. Anna Peplowski – 1:40.50
10. Allison Schmitt – 1:40.62

Moesch has additionally emerged as a legit title contender over 200 yards after dropping her greatest time by greater than two seasons within the early portion of this season. However, this occasion has loads of firepower that ought to current an intriguing race come March. Minna Abraham has steadily improved every year of her school profession whereas Bella Sims was the 2024 winner of this occasion earlier than choosing different races final yr. This is certainly one of 5 totally different races wherein Sims is a doable title contender. Claire Weinstein will not be presently among the many top-ranked swimmers within the nation, however she was the World Championships bronze medalist within the 200-meter free.

500 Freestyle

• U.S. Open Record: Katie Ledecky – 4:24.06 (2017)
• American Record: Katie Ledecky – 4:24.06 (2017)
• NCAA Record: Katie Ledecky – 4:24.06 (2017)
• 2025 Champion: Jillian Cox, Texas – 4:31.58
• Top Returning Finisher: Jillian Cox, Texas – 4:31.58

Current 2025-26 Rankings:

1. Jillian Cox, Texas – 4:32.92
2. Kennedi Dobson, Georgia – 4:33.61
3. Aimee Canny, Virginia – 4:34.26
4. Claire Weinstein, Cal – 4:34.81
5. Julie Brousseau, Florida – 4:35.14

All-Time Rankings (daring = presently in school):

1. Katie Ledecky – 4:24.06
2. Summer McIntosh – 4:27.52
3. Katie Grimes – 4:28.27
4. Bella Sims – 4:28.64
5. Leah Smith – 4:28.90
6. Claire Weinstein – 4:29.38
7. Katie Hoff – 4:30.47
8. Jillian Cox – 4:30.68
9. Dagny Knutson – 4:31.18
10. Brooke Forde – 4:31.34

Three of the six ladies who’ve ever swum beneath 4:30 are presently lively school swimmers, however none of these ladies have near these occasions since they have been membership swimmers with the Sandpipers of Nevada. Sims was the 2024 NCAA champion within the occasion earlier than falling to a surprising seventeenth place final yr whereas Katie Grimes was fourth in her school debut. Cox was dominant within the occasion final season, however Sims, Grimes and Weinstein would all be favored for the title in the event that they approached their lifetime bests.

1650 Freestyle

• U.S. Open Record: Katie Ledecky – 14:59.62 (2025)
• American Record: Katie Ledecky – 14:59.62 (2025)
• NCAA Record: Katie Ledecky – 15:03.31 (2017)
• 2025 Champion: Jillian Cox, Texas – 15:33.54
• Top Returning Finisher: Jillian Cox, Texas – 15:33.54

Current 2025-26 Rankings:

1. Jillian Cox, Texas – 15:41.70
2. Kennedi Dobson, Georgia – 15:47.61
3. Claire Weinstein, Cal – 15:52.28
4. Katie Grimes, Virginia – 15:52.95
5. Emma Finlin, Ohio State – 15:55.09

All-Time Rankings (daring = presently in school):

1. Katie Ledecky – 14:59.62
2. Erica Sullivan – 15:23.81
3. Katie Hoff – 15:24.35
4. Leah Smith – 15:25.30
5. Katie Grimes – 15:26.17
6. Brittany MacLean – 15:27.84
7. Kate Ziegler – 15:29.15
8. Jillian Cox – 15:30.33
9. Lotte Friis – 15:30.84
10. Ashley Twichell – 15:30.95

It can be a stunner if anybody got here inside 25 seconds of the unimaginable sub-15:00 efficiency Katie Ledecky blasted in December. For school functions, Cox is the robust favourite to defend her nationwide title, however loads relies on the shape Weinstein and Grimes convey this season. Grimes pale badly eventually yr’s NCAAs to finish up thirteenth. The second-through-fifth-place finishers from final yr’s NCAAs all graduated.