Jillian Cox Wraps Up SECs With a New Championship Meet Record, Moves To #8 All-Time

2025 SEC Championships

• Dates: Tuesday, February 18–Saturday, February 22
  • Prelims: 9:30 am EST/ Finals 5:30 pm EST (Tuesday-5:00 EST)
• Location: Gabrielsen Natatorium — Athens, GA
• Defending Champions: Florida women (2x); Florida men (12x)
• Live Results
• Live Video: SEC Network+
• Championship Central
• Fan Guide (Men)
• Fan Guide (Women)
• Psych Sheets
• Teams: Alabama, Arkansas (women), Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas*, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt (women)
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

Women’s 1650 Freestyle — Finals

• NCAA Record: 15:03.31 — Katie Ledecky, Stanford (2014)
• SEC Record: 15:27.84 — Brittany MacLean, Georgia (2020)
• SEC Championship Record: 15:36.52 — Brittany MacLean, Florida (2016)
• NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 15:52.41

Top 8 Finishers:

1. Jillian Cox (TEX)- 15:30.33
2. Abby McCulloh (UGA)- 15:45.77
3. Kate Hurst (TEX)- 15:47.93
4. Emma Weyant (FLOR)- 15:53.23
5. Michaela Mattes (FLOR)- 16:02.53
6. Dune Coetzee (UGA)- 16:02.60
7. Rachel Stege (UGA)- 16:03.73
8. Madison Kolessar (SCAR)- 16:06.49

Jillian Cox, a redshirt freshman, continued to make noise at her first SECs by picking up her second win—and championship record—of the meet. Her first win came in the 500 free, where with a 4:31.54 she also set a new SEC meet record. Tonight, she took down Brittany MacLean‘s meet record of 15:36.52, lowering it by over 5 seconds to 15:30.33.

At her midseason invite, Cox swam a huge 24 second PB of 15:34.66; she bettered that time tonight to maintain the #1 time in the nation this season and, with this new PB, is among one of the favorites to win this event at NCAAs next month. It took a 15:37.74 to win NCAA’s in 2024—a time that Cox has now surpassed twice thus far. Cox’s impact will be crucial for Texas, who looks to maintain their national runner-up status, as the Longhorns have no returning scorers in the mile after the graduation of Erica Sullivan last year. She took 6th in 15:54.82.

Cox split 4:41.70/4:42.69/4:42.27 across the three 500s before closing in 27.07. She was remarkably consistent, never breaking the 28 barrier and averaging 28-lows for the duration of the race. She was 3 seconds faster than her previous PB on just the first 500, which helped push her to a new personal best.

All Time Top Performers

1. Katie Ledecky, 15:01.41
2. Erica Sullivan, 15:23.81
3. Katie Hoff, 15:24.81
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

With this swim, Cox moves up to 8th on the all time performers list. The only active NCAA swimmer ahead of her is fellow freshman Katie Grimes, who swims for Virginia but did not swim the 1650 at ACCs and holds a season best of 15:53.40.

Cox was a member of USA’s 2023 World Championship team in the 800 free, where she placed 6th in 8:19.73. Following her success, Cox, an Austin native, opted to take an Olympic gap year, deferring her enrollment to Texas until fall of 2024 to train for US Trials. At Trials last June, Cox came in 3rd in both the 400 free and 800 free.