Junior National Champion Lydia Jacoby Gives Texas Another Breaststroke Commit

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The Texas Longhorn women continued to hit the breaststroke recruiting hard, with their latest addition being high school junior Lydia Jacoby.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to announce my verbal commitment to swim and study at the University of Texas. Thank you to my amazing friends, coaches, and parents for always supporting me, and to Carol and Mitch for giving me this opportunity. I can’t wait to be a Longhorn! Hook ‘em 🧡🤘”

Jacoby, from Seward, Alaska, is a “Best of the Rest” honoree in the SwimSwam Class of 2022 rankings. Already one of the best swimmers to ever come out of the state of Alaska, she holds 19 Alaska LSC Records, all in breaststroke.

At last summer’s USA Swimming Junior National Championships, she won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.12, which also earned her a spot on the USA Swimming Junior National Team. More recently, at the 9-site US Open Championships, Jacoby traveled to San Antonio, Texas to compete. There, she swam 1:07.57 in long course, which ranks 2nd all-time among American 15-16 girls in the event, leaving her just half-a-second shy of Megan Jendrick’s National Age Group Record in the event.

Jacoby is an Olympic Trials qualifier in both the 100 and 200 meter breaststrokes and ranks 16th in the 100 breaststroke among Americans of all ages since the 2016 Olympic Games.

In short course, she is two-for-two in Alaska High School State Championships in the 100 breaststroke and also won the 200 IM as a freshman. Those titles come in addition to a number of Alaska LSC state titles across multiple courses and events.

Best Times in Yards:

• 100 breaststroke – 1:00.16
• 200 breaststroke – 2:14.64
• 200 IM – 2:09.31

Based on Jacoby’s dominant status in Alaska, it’s reasonable to conclude that more of her focus has been turned nationally, internationally, and long course. Her best times in long course, especially in the 200 breaststroke, indicate that she is capable of better swims in short course as well.

As was recounted when Chase Davison recently committed to the Longhorns last week, Texas has been going after breaststrokers hard in their recent classes.

Texas’ top 100 breaststroker last season, Kennedy Lohman, was 1:01.10. For this season, that leaves Holly Jansen (1:01.62) who ranked 130th in the NCAA nationally across the 2019-2020 academic year.

Texas head coach Carol Capitani has done a lot to address that weakness in the last 3 recruiting classes. For this season, they’ve brought in German Anna Elendt, a 1:08.06 and 2:29.72 breaststroker in long course; and Ellie McLeod, a 1:01.5 100 yard breaststroker. In the class of 2021, the Longhorns are expecting Jordan Morgan (1:01.21/2:14.68), Channing Hanley (1:02.86/2:16.65), Riley Courtney (1:03.83/2:15.69), and World Juniors team member Ellie Andrews (1:01.09/2:13.24) to join the breaststroke group.

Jacoby joins Lindsey Hosch and Davison as commitments in the class of 2022 for the Longhorns. Hosch was the Texas 5A high school runner-up in the 100 breaststroke, with bests of 1:01.75 and 2:18.32, and Davison was the Colorado 4A state runner up in the 100 breaststroke.

This offseason, Texas hired Mitch Dalton as the program’s new women’s assistant coach. Dalton was previously the National Junior Team Director, where he would have become familiar with Jacoby.

Jacoby trains with the Seward Tsunami Swim Club and attends Seward High School in Seward, Alaska, located along the state’s southern coast. Jacoby is a two-time USA Swimming Scholastic All-America honore, and a columnist for her school newspaper.

Jacoby was a finalist for the 2020 Pride of Alaska award presented by the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.

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